The master of the house

Tiafoe has an XXL track record in this tournament, he's particularly good and this season he's hungry for victory—another final at least?

Objectively, it’s hard to find anything negative to say about Tiafoe this season. He’s really trying to be serious, playing great matches, then logically losing to good players. His 2026 version is a top-20 player. I’m not surprised he’s doing well in Houston either because he’s not bad on clay: his forehand has a lot of spin and he moves well enough. Seeing him lose in the first round would be a big surprise!

Speaking of surprises, we’re thinking of Hijikata, who popped up at Indian Wells and seems to be in good shape this year; he just took out Kovacevic very easily. His track record here isn’t great and he’s not comfortable on clay. His first-round match was really interesting tactically against a player with a weak one-handed backhand, but I don’t think he’s a threat to Big Foe. The American is much stronger than Kovacevic and more complete too. Maybe a bit of tension at the start, he could get caught off guard early in the match, but I really don’t see him losing...