Harness too explosive?

The Argentine is on fire but Norrie is a master of comebacks

What a match from Norrie against Machac, the Brit was never dead until the last point, once again he showed extraordinary mental strength to get through it. He missed a match point in the second set, then was a break down in the final set; a lot of players would have let go but not him. The level was excellent too, I don’t see what you can hold against him, he’s tenacious and with a rest day he’ll be ready to die on court again. Not the best scheduling though, 5:30 pm without delays is the time when, like against Machac, the conditions are a bit less lively and I find that his forehand loses quality since the bounce is lower; it was pretty obvious in the last match that from the second set on he wasn’t hurting his opponent as much anymore.

Tirante is also coming off an excellent match, the Argentine is in Olympic form this season, he’s stepping up almost every week and overflowing with confidence. He says he’s playing the best tennis of his life and he genuinely believes it, so he allows himself to try everything on court and it’s working. Despite a pretty average Paul (not to say terrible), you have to judge Tirante’s performance as a confirmation; what he’s doing isn’t new and he’s not overplaying either, this is his real level.

First meeting between the two, I think that in pure level Tirante is a bit better right now, but Norrie’s resilience is a huge weapon. If the Brit doesn’t give away a single point and starts making Tirante doubt, then the match-up could swing completely in his favour. But as I said, the conditions won’t be optimal for him; I think Tirante is confident and on fire enough to pull something off.