Nakashima too low?

Darderi is of course still much more renowned for his level on clay, but just based on his incredible resilience on slightly slow hard courts in the Montreal night session, I think his odds are high. The Italian just beat a high-level Borges on hard, and did so brilliantly. The Italian is worse in many areas, but as soon as the rallies go beyond a certain length, he takes the advantage.

And it's a bit of the same matchup with Nakashima. The American relies on his serve (Borges hit 17 aces against Darderi for those who didn’t see the match), and he has his limits in rallies. He has improved a lot in that area, and also mentally (it’s true that he would have lost this match against Rinderknech before).

On Darderi’s side, his big battles come at a cost. He pulled out of the doubles to rest and admitted in an interview that he’s a bit tired. There’s also his shoulder injury picked up recently in Los Cabos. As you’ve understood, his game is very demanding. But if he’s in good physical shape, he’s not worth 3.16...