Poor Nuno

Borges is stringing together matches against players whose profiles he doesn’t necessarily like. But he enjoys big battles and he’s kind of a Grand Slam specialist, so it should work out for him, right?

All week in Mallorca, we saw Borges having to really dig deep and tighten up his game against profiles that are dangerous for him, meaning good servers with an aggressive style. He held up well in the early rounds, but then took a heavy loss against a completely on-fire Quinn. The scoreline is very one-sided, but the American really played like forged steel in that match. It’s not easy for Borges to contain that kind of profile, but to be fair, what was happening on the other side of the net was just crazy. I don’t want to judge him too harshly, especially since before that he had actually managed to handle his other matches well. Now we move to a grass court that might suit him even better in my opinion, given that in Mallorca it was ultra fast with a high bounce, which I don’t find ideal for him. I like it when the bounce is low and he can take his time to work his opponents over.

He’ll be up against Tristan Boyer, who has just come through qualifying and is a promising player. The American can play well on all surfaces. He’s not exceptional in any particular shot, but he does everything well. His forehand is still excellent compared to his backhand. He puts a lot of intensity into his baseline game, both in terms of footwork and overall play. He’s a player who’s really progressing and can cause problems for quite a few top-100 players with the quality of his tennis. I’m not such a fan of his level on grass, though; I get the feeling he can play better elsewhere, and it’s probably there or indoors that he’s likely to run into a few more limits with his current game. His forehand has a lot of spin on it.

I don’t think he’s a real threat to Borges. Borges has more experience at this level and in this format, he’s known as a true Grand Slam player. He’s very strong over the long haul and mentally. Boyer’s game isn’t ultra-aggressive either. There will be some good rallies from the baseline. Even though the American knows how to come to the net, he won’t always have the chance to do it. The momentum is clearly in Borges’ favor and, for me, he should once again show seriousness in this match and come out on top.