The beast is waking up..

Fonseca came back from very far behind against Khachanov, and it's exactly the kind of match that can get him going again.

Sloppy at the start of the match and especially up against an excellent Khachanov, Fonseca was completely overwhelmed before raising his level and finding his best tennis right when he needed it. He saved two match points in the tie-break and after that he was on fire, with an absolutely phenomenal atmosphere pushing him higher. Defensively he still has a lot of work to do, but offensively it's magic – whether on the forehand or backhand side, he can hit winners from anywhere. Great mental and tennis resilience anyway, a huge battle and we go again… tomorrow. Yep, because this match was pushed back because of Khacha and his issue in Dubai, so no rest for Fonseca and then he’ll have to go after Paul, that’s going to sting.

The American destroyed Bergs (and Bergs helped him a bit), a real boss-type first round. His track record here is very good and you can see why: the conditions are made for him with a mix of slow pace and high bounce. He can construct his points and cover the court the way he wants, he’s a top player, people shouldn’t forget that. He’s already beaten Fonseca once in Madrid last year, but it’s hard to lean on that too much, this is a completely different match coming up in a crazy atmosphere since it’ll be a night session!! I really like his momentum too, he was excellent in Delray except against Korda, but that was played in insane wind. He skipped Acapulco and is coming in very fresh, this tournament suits him well and the opposition looks pretty reasonable to me too, I’d say. He’ll have to withstand Fonseca’s flashes of brilliance, but over the long haul he should be able to do it in my opinion.