Big liabilities.

Rinderknech has always done well in this tournament and Baez won the title a few years ago.

Nice win for Baez today against Kecmanovic, despite a slight drop in intensity in the second set. I have to say I was convinced by the Argentine’s game, as well as his attitude. You can tell this is a tournament that means a lot to him, where he’s feeling good, and the altitude can allow him to pick up some free points on serve and hurt his opponent. I was quite surprised by how aggressive he was, but also by how precise he was with his drop shots. It’s a combo that really hurt Kecmanovic, and that could hurt Rinderknech again tomorrow. The Argentine has kicked off his tournament well and seems to be becoming dangerous again.

Rinderknech is a threat in these conditions thanks to the quality of his serve, but also his aggressiveness and his potential at the net. The Frenchman was far from outstanding last week in Gstaad, and I still believe he’s a bit overrated this season, given most of his results. Yes, he plays top matches against the best players in the world every time, but the rest of the time he just holds his own ranking and even then, I’d say it’s a bit of a struggle.

He’s good when he can control the game, and he’ll obviously be in charge during his service games. But Baez isn’t coming to defend tomorrow; he’ll try to do damage, to return aggressively like he did today at the slightest opportunity. This mix of aggressiveness and defensive quality from the Argentine is something I particularly like against a very mediocre Rinderknech lately. Can the Frenchman raise his level and be almost flawless on serve? Or will Baez manage to get through it?