Should we be scared of Basil this week?

Every once in a while, the Georgian catches fire and is unplayable...

This time, I'm not so convinced yet. Yes, he did win in straight sets as an underdog against Choinski, but the entire match was quite poor. Choinski looked fatigued after his recent title in Braunschweig, but was still invited back into the match by Basilashvili. Worst of all was his serving, nine double faults in such a short match. Choinski did not really have a lot of depth and intensity in his game, and Basilashvili was able to take advantage of this with huge winners, especially from his backhand side. Still, it was not one of those really good performances that we see from him sometimes, when he is just hitting everything with crazy power. At least we can acknowledge that a win, thus breaking his losing streak, can give him some confidence and perhaps play a better match here. I did find Tirante to be better, but it was a bit of a similar pattern... Ofner was simply not good at all, with a lot of questionable shot selection and just looking perplexed on the court, similar to how it was when he was completely out of form last year. I did find Tirante's return pretty good, and he was able to move Ofner around with his forehand, preventing the Austrian from setting up points.

I mentioned in my last preview that I feel that Tirante has cooled off a bit lately, and I don't think the match against Ofner is enough to shake off that feeling yet. However, the conditions are really nice for him, and perhaps we could see his level return rather fast, especially since he is getting quite a nice draw. As is the case in many of Basil's matches, this match is mainly on his racket... the difference between his peak level and usual level is just enormous. Tirante has a game that is a lot more repeatable in these kinds of conditions, but Basil has more time to set up his strikes on a slower court!