Not the same build

Navone is a featherweight and Struff a heavyweight, but each has his strengths and can claim the win.

Navone put an end to his losing streak with a win over Muller, who is still not 100% physically recovered from his injury. The start of the match wasn’t very convincing from the Argentine, but after that he rolled. I don’t really know what to think about this match, because Muller with fresher legs could have made the difference. At the moment, Navone isn’t winning much, despite his tennis being fairly solid. The Argentine often plays well, but he often loses at the ends of sets or in very tight matches. That’s a bad flaw, and in altitude conditions, where matches tend to go to tight set endings, I think he still loses some of his threat. That said, be careful, because he’s still an excellent clay-court player and he gains power thanks to these conditions, which can really turn him into a complete and hard-to-beat player. But he’s not dominant, and on the other side of the net, there’s some serious opposition.

Struff admitted that the transition after Wimbledon was tricky, despite four days of training in Kitzbühel, which should have helped him arrive in good shape. He said it took him some time to understand how the balls were reacting and to find his rhythm during his win over Shevchenko. It really wasn’t a great Struff, but it was a dangerous first round for the reasons mentioned and also because he was facing an in-form opponent. Shevchenko serves pretty well in these kinds of conditions, he hangs in there and he was in good form. I wonder if he wasn’t more dangerous for Struff than Navone, in the sense that now Struff is up and running, he’ll come in much more dialed in, and Navone is a player who holds his service games less well than Shevchenko. The Argentine will be in danger on his service games if Struff fine-tunes his return.

Only one match-up to go on, and it was in Cincinnati last year. I don’t think I watched the match, or at least I don’t remember it. I’d say Struff can do a lot of damage with his aggression this week, especially with his serve and his net game. Navone will have the role of the counterpuncher, the defender, and he can also surprise with his forehand by producing some nice accelerations.