Is he pulling that on us again?

The Frenchman delivered a tactically perfect match, both in execution and attitude. His movement wasn’t that bad, even though he’s not very fast. The slightly heavy clay in Monte Carlo allows him not to slide too much and to stay planted on his feet with his big frame. The question is whether he’ll be able to repeat that performance with the same quality of drop shots and variety in his game against the Brazilian, because he won’t be able to compete with the Brazilian from the baseline. That’s the main question here.

On the Brazilian’s side, the match went smoothly, he didn’t even have to hit that many forehands, so it was a pretty quiet day. You can tell he still has some reserves and that he’ll be able to raise his level here. He likes this kind of match-up because he enjoys playing the important points, always staying in touch, playing every point, and staying very focused. It’s reminiscent of a match between a Brazilian and the big server Mpechi: in the heavy topspin returns at the feet, the fact of fighting in baseline rallies, being able not to make an error for a very long time, and then breaking up the rhythm.

The Brazilian’s game will probably be too strong here for the Frenchman, whose goal will be to hang in there long enough to push the Brazilian to a tie-break and pull off another little upset. But I don’t really believe in that outcome, so apart from going for a +3 or +4 games handicap on the French side, there’s not much to do, and I don’t see much value in this match.