A Surprising Quarterfinalist

Well, we did not expect to see Stefano Travaglia here, did we?

Funnily enough, Travaglia has done what Borges has done here in Båstad... winning both his matches 6-4, 6-2! While the first match against Krumich on one of the outside courts was perhaps not the "popcorn match of the day"... the absolute dismantling of Navone on Center Court should at least be noticed! Travaglia is an experienced player who has been through some tough injuries. Will he be able to keep playing with no pressure, as he did against Navone? So far, he has been really attacking in both of his matches. His backhand has been outstanding, hitting outright winners or setting up the finishing blow against a good defender like Navone. If he can keep his level up, watch out!

Vallejo battled really hard against Botic, and honestly, it was quite a struggle for the first set and a half. Since he lacks any real big weapons, he really struggled to finish off points, eventually leading to overpressing or a huge winner from Botic (who has more weapons). He was able to hold on, and Botic's level started to drop, as it usually does. Vallejo started to finish more and more points at the net with success. It was a real battle, and Botic lost the way he did so many times against this kind of player - by ending up being way too passive. Travaglia was able to kind of surprise Navone with his level, but it also had to do a bit with the Argentinian being a bit rusty and, quite frankly, slow to find solutions. Now, the Italian has to face someone who has already played two matches here and is battle-hardened. If Vallejo can turn this match into more of a grind, he should have a really good chance, since Travaglia is relying a lot on outstanding attacking tennis, which might just be a bit hard to maintain deeper into a deciding set...