Michele is expected

After a successful Miami, with a huge performance against Sinner in particular, our friend Michelsen really can’t afford to slip up!

It's always tough to follow up after a Masters 1000 and a great week, especially when you go from hard courts to a super atypical clay in a small tournament. Luckily Michelsen is a local, otherwise it didn't look good. He's defending a quarterfinal, it's not huge in terms of points but it just shows that he already played two good matches here last year, and on this fast clay I think his profile fits well. On regular clay though he's bad, and especially has no experience; even Wong has a few more matches on clay, but yeah. Wong is just as bad on clay, last year it was disastrous, but this special clay in Houston might suit him too thanks to his serve quality.

I'm a bit worried about the back-to-back matches though. He’s grinded through some Challengers and put in a lot over the past few weeks, and apparently he was sick during his last match. He’s had a week of rest so it should be fine, but I’m afraid it might be a deeper kind of fatigue, especially since a big part of his game is based on his mindset and attitude. As soon as that drops, he’s completely off. I see an interesting momentum on Michelsen’s side, both physically and in terms of motivation.

First meeting between the two, hard to know how it will play out, but both are better in offensive phases. I still prefer Michelsen, who can finish at the net or hold up better on the backhand side.