Watch out, Coco.

Buse is on a real rise, and I can tell you he’s capable of doing some very impressive things this year; he’s one of those players you really don’t want to face on clay.

Buse this season is a little pest to beat on clay, 61st in the world at 22, he’s already taken out some big names and he’s someone you’ve got to take seriously. He’s just dragging around a small foot injury but I think he still wants to play everything because the opportunities are good. I didn’t see his qualifying round in Monte Carlo unfortunately, but the schedule was brutal, he was in full rush mode with a late arrival from Marrakech where he gave a lot, I’m not worried at all about that loss. With a full week of rest, he’ll be at 100% this week without a doubt. When that’s the case his game is hellish on clay, he doesn’t give away a single point and can do it all, he’s full of confidence and barely misses. I see him as a future top player on clay (and on tour in general).

Moutet has been warned, and I think the Frenchman is showing a good attitude at the moment; that was the case in Monte Carlo where he was locked in and lost to a great Ruud without having anything to be ashamed of, you often hit your limit when a player is able to attack your backhand really hard. With the weight of Ruud’s ball on top of that, it’s insanely hard to get out of it. Apart from his loss to Trungellitti in Marrakech, I find he’s super focused this year and that it’s going to pay off sooner or later because he’s doing everything he can. The conditions in Barcelona are good for him and the crowd can become either an ally or his worst enemy. I’ll be watching the atmosphere of this match closely, Buse sometimes gets unexpected support and when that happens he’s even harder to beat.

First meeting, there’s going to be a lot of scrambling from Coco’s side and Buse will try to target his backhand but he won’t hurt him as much as a Ruud would. For me, Moutet has a ‘manageable’ match in the sense that if he plays his best tennis he’s supposed to get through it.