A surprise bigger than the other.

Even if we didn’t expect to see Griekspoor at this stage of the competition given the draw, it’s also and above all an even bigger surprise to see Merida here as well. And yet, it’s 100% deserved.

It's Griekspoor's comeback, as he’s finding his motivation again and getting back to winning ways. For some time now, you could feel his level was coming back, but the results weren’t following. This week, everything seems to be working, even if I’m still not totally convinced by the Dutchman’s level; I’ve seen him play better in the past, and he was a bit messy in his match against Arnaldi, a match-up that suits him much less than someone like Zverev for example. The important thing is the win, but he’ll need to raise his game.

On the other side, Merida’s matches have been much more convincing, even if the Spaniard gave himself a real scare against Michelsen after squandering a huge lead. He recovered perfectly in the third set and got the win. He’s playing great tennis this week. He’s going to pose a difficult challenge for Griekspoor, because he’s very strong on the return, with notably a great quality of return, solid from the baseline on both forehand and backhand, and above all some incredible acceleration that can leave his opponents two meters away from the ball, it’s that surprising. The Spaniard seems a bit on a mission this week. He’s playing the best tennis of his life, but he has already dug deep into his physical reserves.

Griekspoor is going to have to overuse serve-and-volley so he doesn’t get dragged into a baseline battle that could be fatal for him. We saw Michelsen get ripped apart several times when he tried to do that. Either Griekspoor is more inspired, or he eats a few passing shots and will start doubting his game plan. The Dutchman will really have to attack all the time, even on return games, and try to crack Merida’s solidity.