Not great...

Are we talking about Agut or Berrettini?

I feel like Berrettini hasn’t really taken off since his comeback; he plays a few big matches but doesn’t back it up in the smaller tournaments where we can expect more from him. Last week in Marrakech he completely missed his match against Buse, but I suspect a little virus because quite a few players over there caught something and Berrettini was acting weird on court! His opponent is a real fighter too, Buse is a nightmare to deal with on clay this year, he makes you play and if you don’t get free points on serve you’re in trouble. In the end, it might actually be a blessing in disguise for Berrettini since he arrived early here and could have his big tournament this week; he’s got an interesting draw in this first round and is almost playing at home, the conditions are all there for him to perform well tomorrow.

His opponent Agut is a lucky loser after a defeat to Shevchenko, who’s in good form, but I found the Spaniard disappointing in Bucharest last week; he’s struggling on return and when it’s too slow he doesn’t hurt you at all. I don’t feel like this LL status is going to change anything, we’re not talking about a guy who was super tight in the previous round and could suddenly surprise everyone. Berrettini leads 7–1 in the H2H and it’s no surprise given his serve quality and their respective styles; the Italian really dominates this matchup.

Despite inconsistent performances, Berrettini is still the clear favorite in this match against an even more lackluster Agut.