A third round that looks like a first round.

Blockx still hasn’t played a match and Lehecka has only played one, which was quick. In the end, we’re still guessing with this match.

Lehecka bounced back well after his loss in Los Cabos, which was a disaster. But his first round here wasn’t that straightforward, especially since the conditions really didn’t suit his game at all. He’s always said he likes it when it’s fast with a fairly low bounce, and Los Cabos was the complete opposite. This week, the conditions still aren’t super fast, but it’s already better. Especially since the matches are played during the day and not at night like in Mexico. I really liked his match against Kopriva, he was focused and it wasn’t easy because they’re good friends and compatriots. He had to be alert and concentrated, and that’s exactly what Lehecka was, I found him very motivated. A good first round to kick off his tournament, not much negative to say about it, even if there’s still plenty of room for him to raise his level.

It’s not much, but it’s all we’ve got on Lehecka and it’s already a lot more than for Blockx, who hasn’t played since his final in Estoril. The Belgian was supposed to play Munar in the second round here, but the Spaniard withdrew. He still hasn’t really gotten into his tournament, which bothers me a little bit. I already wasn’t feeling very confident before this match because, as I said in Estoril, the level wasn’t great, either in terms of tennis or mentally, where he showed some big weaknesses.

He pulled off a few comebacks and scraped through at the last minute to reach the final. I need him to confirm that level for me, because since his return from injury, I haven’t seen him back at his best like he was at the start of the year. I’m also wondering about his ability to play well on outdoor hard courts. His record so far is not impressive at all, even if I think that in the long run he will be good on it. But will it be his best surface? I don’t think so. He already has very good results indoors and on clay.

This is a first meeting between these two players. Blockx does a bit of everything; sometimes he’s impatient and wants to hit very hard. But he’s also an excellent defender who can stand two meters behind the baseline and wait for the error while playing smart. We’ll have to figure out what mindset he’s in, but recently it’s been more the first option, in hyper-impatient mode, which I don’t like at all against Lehecka. If the Belgian manages to get enough balls back, make him play, and every point goes to 10-shot rallies with Lehecka forced to go for too much and running out of solutions from the baseline, then that doesn’t look great for the Czech. But that still depends on Blockx being at his best. As we said, he’s making his comeback in this tournament and he’s facing Lehecka right away. For all these reasons, it seems unlikely he’s going to pull out a brilliant match and go for the upset, doesn’t it?