New challenge

Fils has been flying through the stages since his return from injury; what awaits him now is another level above.

Great win for Fils against Auger-Aliassime, a win over a top 10 player just a few weeks (if not days) after coming back from injury is phenomenal but almost logical, I’d say. He’s playing so well that it just makes sense to see him beat this kind of guy, I’m not surprised at all. He’s not overplaying and he’s raised his average level of play, now it’s rock solid every single match! A little dip in intensity in the second set against Felix, but can we really blame him when it was so perfect before that? I can’t! I love what he’s showing physically and tennis-wise since his return, and the conditions suit him perfectly this week, he’s doing back-to-back quarterfinals. To get to the next stage he’ll have to beat Zverev, a particularly tough player to face but one that Fils has already beaten several times!

After a very average match against Nakashima, Zverev raised his level against Tiafoe, perfect serving quality and the offensive game he promises us. It’s really very strange what he does from one match to another: sometimes he takes control with his forehand and comes in to the net, and sometimes it looks like he has zero confidence in himself to do that and just stays at the back. You really have to figure him out in the moment during the match. The only thing we’re sure of is that he’s going to serve huge and it’ll be extremely hard to break him, which lowers Fils’ chances, but the Frenchman is so good that he can still manage it.

Physically he hasn’t spent too much energy in this tournament so far, that’s also a good sign and for me all the lights are green on his side. I’d say the match-up is tight, or at least not bad for either one, I think Arthur is going to lock in on Zverev’s forehand because in that diagonal he’s ten times better. The Frenchman can get frustrated though; if Z serves 80% first serves, we might see Arthur get impatient and start forcing things...