Home draw?

A little one qualified for Giron who should be pretty happy, but careful…

Careful, because Landaluce is in great form and he’s coming off the qualies, he got his revenge on McDonald in the first round and then made a little comeback against Tirante in a high-level match. I’m often hard on him because he can play at a high level but he’s usually missing something mentally, he doesn’t look starving for it and often disappoints when he’s expected to deliver. I can’t deny that this season he’s becoming a bit more consistent, he’s playing more complete matches and it’s starting to look serious, his two wins in qualifying were really excellent. Now he’s up against Giron, game-wise he has what it takes to hold his own from the baseline and he’s coming in confident, so I’d be wary if I were the American!

Good period for Giron too, he’s hanging with good players and just made the final in Phoenix; with a bit more ruthlessness the title was his, but it’s a recurring thing with him that his arm shakes at the end of sets, his second serve is a soft push and he can get extremely frustrated. In interviews he says he’s playing his best tennis but I don’t really agree, I’ve seen him play better than this even if he’s still very good right now! He’s also a bit tight at the start of tournaments, at Delray he saved set points against Shimabukuro and at Indian Wells he lost the first set against Navone, he also says Phoenix is easy since the pressure is tiny compared to a Masters 1000.

That’s what makes me lean towards Landaluce’s side, maybe not the win but surely a set for the Spaniard or at least a tight match, he really played well in the qualies and it’s not an easy match for Giron!