Norrie too much of a favorite?

The Brit has a clear advantage: he’s coming in with a good hard-court tournament already in his legs (Los Cabos) plus a round here that really dialed him in (a great battle against baseliner Carabelli, who played a good match).

On Buse’s side, he’s coming in in worse shape, with a grass-court season followed by the Gstaad / Kitzbühel combo that was surely below his expectations after his title in Hamburg.

So yes, the Peruvian arrives here with a certain delay, so to speak. He hasn’t yet gotten used to the match conditions here, he still needs to get a feel for the hard courts, and he has to face a guy who’s already dialed in and hungry for wins after a dry spell caused by a rib injury.

As for the match-up, I think we’ll get something fairly similar to the one against Carabelli. Norrie will alternate between solid defense, hammering Buse’s backhand, and controlled aggression, while Buse will, in my opinion, need to take the initiative a bit more so he doesn’t get pushed around too much. The question is: is he fit enough to play that card at a very high level?