Second round

This is a remake of the Mallorca semi-final we witnessed just a few days ago, and I have things to say.

In their recent match, Marozsan caused serious problems for Fokina for two reasons. First, because he’s a player who takes a lot of time away from his opponents and dictates the game in his own way. That’s something that bothers pretty much everyone when the Hungarian is in form, which he was. On top of that, Fokina is someone who also likes to take control of the game and play with a lot of intensity, which isn’t easy when the ball is coming at you very fast.

The conditions are changing, but I’m not sure that gives an advantage to one more than the other. For me, it’s quite balanced on that front. The bounce is lower here. The courts are just as fast, I’d say.

Fokina had won the match against Marozsan before going on to take the title without being too over the top in his celebration, which suggested he might already have had his mind on Wimbledon and the idea of keeping the momentum going. His first round here was still very good against a tricky opponent who has already beaten some strong players this year. It was a good performance from Fokina, but he took an MTO and seemed very tired towards the end of the match.

I think he put a huge amount of energy and heart into the whole week in Spain, on top of the physical effort in pretty extreme heat. He’ll only get one day of rest here, and I still find it hard to trust him pre-match, with that little doubt hanging over his energy possibly dropping as the match goes on. If he were to lose the first set and find himself in another tough, badly-started match against Marozsan, would he manage to turn things around this time? I’m not as sure about that as I was in Mallorca.

Marozsan beat Tirante in his opening match here and got a win in three sets as a heavy favorite. That’s not something that’s very typical for him. He’s really confident right now and stringing wins together. For me, he’s the perfect underdog spot to try.