A Solid Battle?

Two players who are quite balanced in every aspect...

Well, I was trying to put it nicely. They might be "balanced" in most areas, but also, they don't really excel at anything ;) Let's start with the Australian. He is coming off a rough loss, as it looked like he had plenty of margin to close out the match against Faria in two sets. However, he didn't manage to, and ended up losing in a deciding-set tiebreaker. As for Walton, he tends to do the same things... he can go deep in Challenger tournaments since he is a bit too good for them. When it comes to main tour ATP tournaments, we see him picking up wins he is supposed to, and a few upsets now and then, mainly on outdoor hardcourt. His game is solid, so he rarely beats himself against lesser opponents.

It's a bit of the same when it comes to Jesper. Having a pretty good serve and net game definitely helps him to take command in matches against lower-ranked players, but against better players, he has more issues imposing this part of his game, and then he just ends up looking rushed and underpowered. Most importantly, he has struggled with his form ever since falling early in the second round in Båstad, where he was defending finalist points! I saw his first match back against Michelsen in Cincinnati, and it looked very rusty, despite a somewhat respectable 6-4, 6-4 scoreline. Mainly, I found that he could not just rally for an extended period of time without throwing balls into the net. Now, I was ready to be on Walton's side since I thought De Jong still has quite a way to go until he is fully "back", but I see that he has actually played three matches in a Canadian Challenger tournament, which I think is very good for him. I have not watched them, but just getting some more matches under his belt should be positive.

As for the matchup, I really don't have a lot to separate between these two; it would mainly come down to current momentum & form...