Who will be the better server?

I'm afraid this match can be summed up as a serving battle…

So cool to see Berrettini back in the spotlight, he’s just delivered his first big performance since his comeback! Monumental on serve, clutch/clinical in the big moments and much more focused than Bublik, it was some good old-school Berrettini. The kind of guy who’s super hard to beat in these conditions, you pretty much have to go through a tie-break and be even more clutch than him, which is not comfortable at all! His rise in form is real, he’s getting his physical conditioning back, playing better matches and slowly getting back to his best level. We can count on him tomorrow to prove that it wasn’t just a flash in the pan.

What I just described is pretty much a carbon copy of Vacherot. The Monegasque is one of the best servers on tour, he can “hide” behind his first serve when things get tricky. In his first-round match against Navone he didn’t necessarily play that well, but he was just too hard to break and he also makes a point of making his opponent play on the important points; it’s similar to Berrettini in many ways. There are often drops in intensity though; he did it again against Navone, quickly taking the lead and then easing off for several games before finishing. In those stretches he forces his second serve a bit more and can get frustrated easily.

I’m impressed by Vacherot’s serving quality but not by his overall game. Knowing how good Berrettini is at capitalizing on very little, there will be danger if Vacherot doesn’t excel on serve once again.