A question of domination!

The goal is the same for both players: tomorrow, to take control of the game with their forehand and not be on the back foot.

Basilashvili is continuing his superb week and has just beaten Nakashima in two tight sets in a match he dominated, both on serve and in open play. The American let him play way too much and got punished for it. Basilashvili is in form and, for once, we saw him celebrate his win, which is quite rare and means a lot to him. He’s still physically fresh enough, and we know his limits in this kind of week. I think tomorrow he’ll still be dangerous, and I don’t feel like this is one match too many for him just yet.

Rublev is in good form as well, but he’s obviously making less noise than Basilashvili because he’s more expected to perform, and he “only” has two wins this week. However, I can tell you his level has definitely been there for several tournaments now. On clay, we’ve got a good version of Rublev, and I find him much more mentally stable at the moment.

He’s also making an effort to defend better and to make his opponents play a bit more than usual when he’s being dominated, which earned him a bunch of points against Fokina. With that last sentence, what I mean is that he might be able to resist a bit more in defense than Basilashvili. The Georgian excels in attacking phases but defends less well.

The Russian leads 4–3 in their head-to-head, but there have been a lot of tight matches and the latest win came by retirement. It’s very close when they play each other, which doesn’t really surprise me, since Basilashvili stops Rublev from having too much control of the game, which is important when you face the Russian. Rublev is still the clear favorite in this match because his level is seriously high. But this week, Basilashvili can challenge him, at least temporarily, over a set.