Fire and ice!

Diametrically opposed in every aspect of their game. We mustn’t forget that the stakes are huge, since the winner will face Bellucci or Landaluce for a spot in the quarterfinals.

I remember their match at the start of the year at the Australian Open very clearly. From the outside, you see sets won quite easily by Medjedovic and a tie-break lost in the second set, even though he’d had set points. There were several matches within that match, especially with a dip in level from the Serb, who was very tense and later admitted that Grand Slams are still his biggest weak point, because they require a mental and physical management of matches that’s still a bit too demanding for him.

In terms of play, he was still the more dominant one for several reasons. First, the quality of his serve, which is his biggest weapon, but also his firepower. He was able to push Navone two meters away from the ball pretty much whenever he wanted, especially on the Argentine’s second serves. In general, it’s a match-up that Medjedovic handles quite well, because he has enough power in his arm to hit through the opponent’s defense.

What’s different this time is that we’re on a slower clay court, where Navone will be able to give himself a bit more time and defend more effectively. We saw it against FAA, where his defensive quality completely made the Canadian explode physically, and also just in terms of level of play.

The Argentine played a great, complete match, and if he delivered the same performance tomorrow, I think he’d get his chances over the long run because he’s physically stronger than Medjedovic and the Serb sometimes tends to overuse drop shots, especially when he’s not getting many free points. That’ll be the first thing I look at in this match: how easily Medjedovic can get free points.

I think he’s a bit more capable than FAA of getting free points, but I also think he can have bigger physical and mental lapses than the Canadian. It all depends on him.