Merida's epic continues.

The Spaniard apparently had a hard time getting to Cincinnati. And he also struggled against Cilic before finding the solution and never being troubled again.

Apparently, it was a whole ordeal for Merida just to make the trip to Cincinnati. On top of that, the Spaniard had to adapt to the new conditions and needed a set to find his rhythm. After that, he played really, really well once again. He says that with the confidence he has right now, there aren’t really any unfavorable conditions for his game because he’s feeling the ball so well. He just wants to dominate with his backhand and forehand, to return as much as possible, and land as many first serves as he can. I have to say I’m impressed by what he’s showing, and the guy seems fired up to keep going. We’ll see if the comedown from last week, as well as this chaotic trip, end up having consequences for him at some point. It’s not an easy second round ahead of him either, because Bergs is capable of doing wonders at big tournaments. Or just playing like crap everywhere.

I saw the Belgian play pretty badly in the first set against Baez in Montreal before taking over in dominant fashion. Then he completely fell apart against Shelton. Sure, the American went on to win the tournament afterward, but Zizou clearly never believed in it and played a poor match all on his own, like he sometimes does. He’s also not a player I really trust in heat and humidity, so I’m not very excited about him. On the other hand, I have a bit of a feeling for him here, in the sense that I think Merida is going to dictate enough of the play to calm Bergs down a bit and force him into a battle where he’ll be more in counter-attack and acceleration mode, which suits him perfectly, in my opinion. That said, the momentum is clearly on Merida’s side right now, without a shadow of a doubt. And with the doubts surrounding Bergs, who can put in bad matches every week, I’d say yes, Merida deserves to be the favorite once again.