The Dutch Duo

An unlucky draw for the two friends!

Hey, at least we are guaranteed to see a Dutch player in the second round! Both players are coming from the fourth round in Montreal - not bad. Looking at Botic's run, he had to handle a lot of big serves... Mpetshi Perricard, Medvedev (OK, not as much anymore), Hurkacz, and then Mensik - that's brutal. Griekspoor was finally able to go on a bit of a run; it was something that felt like it was coming. Despite this, I don't want to go far ahead of myself on Tallon. It was a big win against Zverev, but he perhaps caught the German at a good time as well... and he matches up rather nicely against him. I found his match against Arnaldi in the next round a bit troubling, and the match against Merida Aguilar was a complete no-show! Griekspoor has stated multiple times that he really struggles with the Wilson US Open balls to control them; it can also kind of be seen in his results throughout the year in the North American swing (except that run in Washington). Combined with the tough humidity, it's perhaps not the ideal spot for him, even if it's a lot better than seeing him on slow clay these days.

Botic seems a bit more comfortable in the North American swing. We have seen great performances from him at the US Open throughout the years, and last year he was really good in Winston-Salem as well! Now, Cincinnati is a bit special since it plays a bit faster than the rest of the events... unless we are in the night session (which we are not). As for the matchup, there are no secrets between these two players; they know each other to a hundred percent. We know that Griekspoor loves to serve & volley, something that Botic should be quite prepared for! They did face each other on home court in Hertogenbosch earlier this year, but that was on grass, which suits Griekspoor a lot better. Throughout the year, the results have been quite mixed...