Svajda's Second Chance

Shapovalov's retirement somewhat saved the American...

Yes, it was definitely not Svajda's best match yesterday. On the other side of the net, Shapo was struggling quite a lot, getting irritated by Svajda "shanking balls and hitting lines". Still, the Canadian was in the lead and looked likely to win the match before he was physically hampered and had to retire. I didn't really like the overall level from Svajda; there was no particular sharpness, with a lot of forehand errors, almost at the lower part of the net, even on neutral balls! Now, the guy is very good at just "getting on with it" and playing his game; you don't really see any frustration from him. While I do think he is having a bit of a dip, he can enter the upcoming match with no real pressure at all; we know he can play good matches if things actually click. As for Fils, it was not a bad match against a good Jodar last time in Washington. He was trying hard to play with his trademark intensity and involve the crowd, as well as pumping himself up. He did take an MTO in the second set, so we have to keep that in mind.

Fils usually will not struggle against players like this, but he is coming into this without really having played al ot of matches lately. We know that he tends to get back to his level quite quickly, and I once again want to say that I did not find him bad against Jodar either. I don't see a lot of advantages for Svajda in this matchup, especially with his current form...