Something’s not right here...

The Argentine leads 3–0 in head-to-heads with the Spaniard. It’s a bit strange, but looking more closely, there were two Challenger meetings in 2018, and in 2021 a win in a Grand Slam at the US Open, with a score of 7–5 in the fifth set. You can interpret that as fairly old matches, knowing that the Argentine has been on tour for a while, or you can think there’s something about this match-up that bothers the Spaniard. I think it’s a bit of both. The Argentine is simply talented enough to counter the Spaniard’s intensity and attacks, and he also knows how to hurt him if the Spaniard sends a ball that’s a bit too neutral. We now know that the Argentine brings out his best weapons when he’s in a match like this, with no pressure, against players who are supposed to be much better than him. Of course, like you, I wonder what the Spaniard’s real motivation is in a Croatian seaside resort. I think that, as with the match against the Italian Koboli, this is one you’ll need to follow live and maybe place a small bet on the Argentine.