An Unexpected Run?

Tirante has been unplayable since he barely survived his first round...

Well, after his first match against Fritz, I was a bit hesitant to give him full credit, since I thought it was largely down to Fritz's physicality after the Washington title. However, what he did against Popyrin was absolutely filthy! Alexei was coming into the match in great form himself and got absolutely annihilated... everything was firing from Tirante's side.... 8.8 serve rating, 8.4 backhand shot quality (surprising), and 8.3 forehand quality... yeah, those are some quality numbers ;) There's also been a certain swagger from his side in his last two matches; it's almost as if he has let everything go and is just dedicated to playing some tennis with no fear (as I mentioned, he had to survive a 7-6 in the decider vs local wildcard Chan). Admittedly, a completely different matchup awaits now, compared to the one he had against Popyrin and Fritz. I was really impressed by the way he was able to stand up to their power and just overwhelm them with his own. However, what if Tien can extend rallies and put the ball in uncomfortable spots, where Tirante will struggle to generate offense and start bleeding errors? Generally, his backhand will be targeted, since it normally tends to be quite a liability (obviously not in the last match). Tien managed a somewhat easy win against Tommy Paul, but I'm still not convinced that he is back at his best quite yet, even if it is improving! For me, this is once again a bit about form against matchup. If Tirante can play similarly to his other two matches, he has a great shot here... but I can also see him really struggling if his form drops, since I think Tien has the profile to really frustrate him and leak errors. I'm a bit wary of giving too much credit to recent form when the matchup has potential to be really tough, because that's what I did in Atmane vs Mensik, and the Czech raised his level and dominated the matchup!