Third round open.

Great opportunity for these two players, and especially for Tirante, who has been improving a lot over the past few months.

The Argentine is constantly improving and has just taken advantage of a tired Fokina to reach this third round.

He took a while to get into his match, but that was mainly because of an excellent Fokina, who completely prevented him from deploying his game for a good part of the match. Then, once Tirante found his bearings, he played well. I like his post-match comments. He says he’s constantly trying to play his tennis, which is an aggressive style, where he dictates play with his serve and forehand. Those are his two best weapons, and I think they work really well on this clay, precisely.

Carreno Busta is showing a bit of an unexpected return to form for the Spaniard, who got injured before Roland-Garros, but there’s no sign of that injury now. After a splendid match against Lehecka, he benefited from Kokkinakis’ retirement in the second round. I can tell you he was in a pretty bad spot, or at least it was going to be very complicated. Not that he played badly, but the level on the other side of the net was high and he struggled on the return.

He’s playing well this week, but I see in Tirante T. a player with enough weapons to go and challenge him and wear him down over the distance, in my opinion. The Argentine is attacking-minded, but he’s also solid physically and mentally. I find it a bit hard to believe in Carreno over the long haul.