Marozsan carrying on his momentum?

The Hungarian has just had a great tournament in Mallorca and comes in top form against a Tirante who doesn’t really have a good command of the surface. A logical win for Marozsan?

Careful, I won’t write off Tirante, who’s still an outstanding competitor with a real winner’s mentality. He hates losing and knows how to push himself when he’s trailing by a wide margin. I’m thinking of his recent match against Samuel last week, where he was outplayed in the first set and came very close to winning the second set and turning the match around. But I also remember a match in Rome against a qualifier or a wildcard where he was down a set and a break. He completely turned the situation around. He’s a player who can flip a lot of matches. Obviously, he’s not as effective on grass as he is elsewhere, but he’s an Argentine with an aggressive profile. He’s got a big serve and a forehand that really hurts. Two weapons that could help him hold on and disrupt Marozsan’s plans.

The Hungarian is still the heavy favorite in this match, but he’s really not the kind of player you like to back when he’s the favorite. Why? Because his tennis is very risky and he has serious lapses during his matches. He can play like a top 10 in one set and like a top 300 in the next, doing anything and everything. His good tournament in Mallorca also needs to be put into perspective, especially because of a first round where he was basically miraculously saved, only getting through by saving match points against Molcan. His level since the start of the grass season has been pretty good, but you have to be careful not to trust him too much. I’ve already been wrong several times in this kind of situation and I’ve definitely learned my lesson. Marozsan is in the category of players you’d rather take as an underdog and very rarely as a favorite.

As for the match-up itself, we’ve got two players with a fairly simple intention: attack and take control of the points. They’re not very good in defensive phases and want to hurt you quickly. For that reason, I’m thinking Tirante T. could well hold his own and impose his rhythm on his service games for a while. I’m not saying he’s going to win, but I think this first round is anything but a gift for Marozsan and that he really shouldn’t be underestimated either.