A duel between good grass-courters

Here we have two players who are particularly comfortable on grass, even if Ugo Humbert is obviously the big favorite in this match. We know how high he can go on this surface, but watch out for Bonzi!

Humbert has made a solid start to his tournament despite a few small adjustments needed on serve in the first set against Imer. It wasn’t anything exceptional, but once he got into the match, he completely took over. There was a huge gap in level between them on this surface against the Swede. And now he’s up and running. It’s a tournament he loves, he comes every year and gets very good results. His ease on grass no longer needs proving at this point. He’s a top player on this surface and that’s how he should be regarded.

Bonzi doesn’t have Humbert’s track record on grass, but he has always had very solid results. That’s no surprise given his style of play: he knows how to adapt to grass, he’s good at the net, his shots stay low, and he’s quite short and mobile, which helps him move well on it. He’s a player who can reach a very high level; we especially remember his win over Medvedev at Wimbledon. He’s capable of pulling off huge performances, but also of going through long dry spells. Right now, he seems to be in a pretty good place and, as I said, I’m wary of him.

He’s coming out of qualifying and has just beaten a local left-handed player who’s fairly aggressive. He goes into this match in ideal conditions and also leads Humbert 3–1 in their head-to-head. This will be their first meeting on grass and, as I said, Humbert has a clear advantage. Is that enough to justify putting him very low?