A great night session

Looks exciting on paper, but watch out for the cold finishing.

Nishikori K. made his comeback after several months away, and you can definitely say he managed to do what he wanted. The start of the match was a bit sluggish, and he lost the first set a bit against the run of play, then he maintained and raised his level while Shang completely collapsed in terms of intensity. Up against a Chinese player who was far too passive and still a bit injured, Nishikori did his job. He didn’t even have to face a single break point the whole match, which is pretty wild.

Great quality of play and an ability to take the ball early on both sides to move his opponent around, who basically handed him control of the game. But there’s already a concern on the physical side, because I feel the Japanese player was already kind of managing his body at the end of the match, with a few slightly worrying signs in my opinion. Still, he got a day of rest and will be able to fight properly here. That said, it was a tough session in quite a bit of humidity. If the match goes long, he’ll need to be watched closely.

For Jodar, it was also a bit of a comeback in the sense that he hadn’t played since Wimbledon, and his level was still very high. He was pretty clutch in the first set against Fils before taking advantage of the Frenchman’s injury in the second set. The Spaniard picked up right where he left off, with his usual huge power off both wings and constant aggression. I find him really very strong, and he’s going to offer a completely different type of match to Nishikori, who will also have to defend this time, which wasn’t really the case in his first round. For me, that’s the real key to this upcoming match because, despite Nishikori’s good level, I really feel like no one can cope with Jodar when he’s dictating play like that, especially in such fast conditions. Yes, Nishikori will try to do the same, but honestly, I don’t quite know how to put it— the Spaniard is just monstrous when he manages to unleash his game. I found him a bit sluggish in recent weeks, but now he seems to have got his momentum back.

The match is completely on Jodar’s racket. He’s shown in the past that he can have the odd off set before getting back to playing well. But the match is entirely on his racket. And even without wanting to disrespect Nishikori, who I really thought was good for his return, I don’t really see how he can get out of this.