Good opportunities

Kopriva and Buse are delighting us this year as outsiders who are very often underestimated. Now they’re facing each other, and what can we expect from that?

Nice win for Buse against a Tsitsipas who is still far from the standards he reached for several consecutive years. We have to admit that the Greek is no longer anywhere near his best level and that a player like Buse is simply better than him now, even on this kind of surface. He’s really an intelligent player who doesn’t hesitate to adjust his game a bit. We saw him come to the net several times and hurt Tsitsipas’s backhand. By that, I mean he’s a smart player who knows how to adapt tactically. He’s really very complete, it’s hard to find a real weakness in his game, and I think he’s seriously strong.

Kopriva beat Dzumhur in a tactically interesting match, with quite a lot of long rallies. Once again, it was the Czech who managed to pull through. He’s really having a good season. In terms of maximum potential level, he’s below Buse and doesn’t have the Peruvian’s resume in terms of achievements, but he’s hard to beat and can adapt well, even if I prefer him on other types of surfaces. I still quite liked the match-up against Dzumhur for him, because he really had the role of aggressor, and he could sprinkle in drop shots or simply dictate play all the time. It worked well, but the opposition on the other side was really weak. Buse is in another category: he serves better than Dzumhur, is just as solid from the baseline and, above all, he also knows how to attack. On top of having an impeccable mentality, it’s a higher level that awaits Kopriva tomorrow.

It’s 2–1 for Kopriva, but all the wins are on clay and they haven’t played since 2024. Buse has moved to another level and seems better now, especially on this type of surface.