The South American who likes hardcourts

Tabilo just needed a change of scenery...

Alejandro had a poor grass season, and the post-grass clay events were not great either (yes, despite reaching the SF in Båstad). Then, he had to travel across the pond to Washington, without a lot of time to adjust. However, he played a monstrous tournament, with three big wins against Griekspoor, Atmane, and Shelton, before losing to Jodar in three sets in the semifinal! Tabilo has spent a lot of years living in Canada, and perhaps that is the reason why he is not your typical South American clay-courter ;) He has only participated in one Canada Masters event, which was in Montreal 2024, where he did quite well! Tabilo is the kind of player who can go on big streaks when he is feeling it; his attacking lefty game combined with that big serve is nasty. Besides that, we have to admit that he has a high peak; we have seen him get quite a few "big wins" now.

Hurkacz has really been struggling with injuries and coming back at a good level, even more so to sustain it. We see decent matches from him, but when he plays too much and goes deeper in tournaments, he can't manage it physically, and either takes a beating or retires. In a way, his struggles are not too different from what Draper is going through! I don't really find a matchup advantage either way... both players are really strong on serve and rather balanced on both wings. My main concern for Tabilo in this match is his energy levels. He had a long week in Washington, with three of them being against players who are quite intense (Atmane, Shelton & Jodar). Combine that with conditions that were quite physical and not too many days off. Especially against such a Big Server like Hurkacz, where he can't get a lot of chances on return, it would be very costly to have a sloppy service game of his own...