Local advantage or pure ground advantage?

This Houston field is divisive; it favors such different profiles that it's hard to draw a conclusion.

Indeed this clay is strange; you can feel that you need at least a minimum of know-how on clay to move around, and that a good clay-courter with loopy, high balls can really shine here. But on the other hand, it’s fast and the poor quality of this clay gives an advantage to big servers/aggressive players! McDonald did a bit of both in his first round, he hit with more height a few times but he also attacked well. He says he’s trying to kick the serve and adapt to the clay, but yeah, you can clearly see this is not a naturally good surface for him. He’s continuing his good spell, but we should be careful not to overrate him. On paper, taking out Brooksby, the defending champion, is huge, but the match was really bad, Brooksby is totally lost at the moment and McDo took advantage of it. This second round will be tougher.

Tirante is quite a competitor, he reminds me of Zverev with his headband, his forehand strike, and his temperament; he’s all fire and energy on court. He’s really stepping up this year and actively working on his net/forward game to strengthen himself. We’re looking at an aggressive clay-courter who wants to dictate with his forehand and finish the points. He’s been particularly hot over the last few tournaments and wants to go even further; after such a clinical first round he has to be taken seriously.

For this first meeting I give the edge to Tirante, who knows how to play on clay while staying very aggressive, which is exactly what we’re looking for this week. McDonald moves poorly on this surface and took advantage of a completely awful Brooksby, and I think that against a real good in-form player we’re quickly going to see his limit!