Potentially, a very entertaining battle!

Can Baez raise his level for this match?

Well, it's safe to say that De Jong really likes the conditions here. It's always tough and nerve-wracking to play the first match after going deep in the same tournament last year. Indeed, it was quite a tough opening match against an inspired Gaubas! De Jong created chances but was unable to really capitalize, with a few errors, but mainly just great play from his opponent. De Jong's serving was once again outstanding, firing 15 aces in a two-set match on clay! Honestly, it reminded me quite a lot of his level here last year. Jesper is starting to build some real momentum; he had a very good French Open and has been able to keep it going. As for Baez, there are some more question marks. He took us by surprise at the start of the year with some really unexpected results on hardcourt in Australia. Since then, it's been a bit more patchy on clay! Two Bundesliga matches that do not look overly convincing, and then looking to be in real danger as a massive favorite against a young Swedish wildcard, before turning it around to win in 3 sets. Either way, I don't want to be overly pessimistic about his form... he got three matches under his belt on clay now and did not really spend a lot of time on court during grass season. It still feels like he has to build up a bit to get back to his best, whereas De Jong seems to be playing at a really good level now.

Baez is not too different from Gaubas, both players being small and very fast, with some nice forehands! Baez does have a higher peak level and is also a lot more experienced. De Jong's serve and ability to come to the net can be useful against these kinds of players, so that there are not too many points that turn into huge grinds from the baseline. If De Jong is unable to keep up his impressive serving, I'm a bit worried that Baez will start to take over more and more with his forehand, which we know can be really deadly in these conditions...