Terence + Montreal = True?

The crowd is serenading Atmane...

Can you feel the Pokémon-collector starting to catch a bit of fire? I can; it's giving at least partial Cincinnati vibes from last year ;) It's been four good matches on hardcourt now for Atmane... a great match against Tiafoe in Washington, followed by an acceptable loss to Tabilo. Good match against Draper in the first round and a really good match against Khachanov in what could easily have been a tough matchup (Khachanov's stability, serve, and pace absorption). I find him so good when he is like this... dangerous from both wings, moving well, serving well, can play at the net and also return decently. I mean, we know what he is like... high peak and low floor. He is feeling great right now; the crowd is really behind him as well, and there are guys starting chants that catch on throughout the entire match!

It's not an easy matchup against Mensik for Atmane! We know just how much Jakub loves these kinds of matches... he stays solid on his own serve and then really excels at absorbing and redirecting pace. His stats in these kinds of matches are absolutely outstanding; it's been that way for a while. Now, he had that matchup yesterday against Fearnley... who is also an Attacking Baseliner (with a lot of net game, like an all-courter). That's even better for Mensik; he is great at passing shots. Well, the issue is... that he was a break down in the deciding set yesterday (before he came back after Fearnley had an MTO also)! He looked quite in control for the first set and a half... and then he collapsed completely, getting broken multiple times. And yes, that has been something that keeps happening lately... he is lacking some confidence and form, even if he is still clutch and does comeback wins. His match against Nakashima was a great example... he more or less threw the match away with some awful decision-making in the last two points. We need to be aware that he is someone who can raise his level after troublesome early first rounds... but there is certainly a feeling that he is not at his best for a while now. Also, the heat is bothering him a fair amount...