3 hours minimum.

Here we have two excellent grinders who can make matches last and shine in long rallies, or even very long ones.

The momentum is completely on Buse’s side in terms of results and also confidence. The Peruvian is having a very good year, but he’s clearly running out of steam. I’ve been following him since the Golden Swing and I can tell you he’s a bit on his last legs after giving so much already at the start of the year. His matches are much more laborious, he almost always has big lapses and needs to recover during his matches, but he has an exceptional mentality and gets through most of the time. He deserves credit for that. Even in this state, he’s capable of beating a bunch of players and that’s really impressive. Now, I’m not too excited about the rest of his week. It was very tight again today against a young Swiss who doesn’t even have the ideal game to really hurt him.

Etcheverry is nowhere near the same form. His year has been rather disappointing and he’s struggling to find some punch again, especially on the forehand side, but the altitude can really help him get his feel back. His match today was almost perfect against Rodionov, up until 6-2 4-1, before he tensed up a bit and had to go through a tie-break. At the same time, Etcheverry isn’t very confident right now and mostly needs to reassure himself. Once he finds his tennis, he can do damage in these conditions, because he’s still a relatively good server for a clay-courter and, as I said, his forehand can regain its impact on this surface. You can’t take away his exceptional mental strength, which makes him one of the toughest players to beat on tour. Even when his level of play is average, you basically have to beat him twice to win, because he’ll fight to the very end. He’ll have one key advantage over Buse, which is being fresher than his opponent. For me, what Buse’s opponent lacked today was a bit more free points on serve and a bit more solidity at the end of the match. Those are two elements I do see in Etcheverry, and the Argentinian has to rely on them to get the win.

This match looks set to be long and hard-fought, with two players who know how to tighten up their game and limit unforced errors. As I said, for me, Buse is running out of steam a bit and starting to hit his limits, but he keeps on winning. I think he’ll still be very hard to put away.