Who can we trust?

Really not players you feel like relying on. Logically, the outsider would be interesting?

A successful start to the tournament for our two players, who both cruised to 3–0 wins. I’ll start with Struff, whom I was particularly watching to see if he might have a physical dip, but the match wasn’t long enough to confirm whether he’s fit enough to last several hours. His very offensive, high-risk game worked perfectly against a completely lost Carabelli, who played an awful match with 13 double faults and less than 50% first serves in. With stats like that, it’s no surprise Struff had free rein to impose his very aggressive game. You might think Cerundolo will handle it better, but we need to be cautious, because the Argentine was particularly poor on serve in his first round. He was broken several times, hit double faults and showed a lot of tension and nerves.

We know that right now Cerundolo isn’t very happy on court and can’t wait for this swing to be over. He was still a bit more motivated than in his recent matches, especially with a few Argentinians in the stands cheering him on. I saw him pump himself up several times, which is not always the case. But he still had a few moments of doubt, where his temperament took over and you could feel he was about to explode. And that was only Misolic on the other side of the net, who, by the way, was just as bad himself. In short, a first round not at all successful for the Argentine, unlike Struff’s. If both of them play the same way in the second round, I give the edge to the German.

What’s true one day isn’t always true the next, and form can change, especially with a player like Struff, who can hit 40 winners and around fifty unforced errors if he’s not feeling the ball as well. Cerundolo is generally excellent against this type of player because he returns better than average, manages to neutralize from the baseline, and punishes hard with his forehand. They’ve already faced each other once, in Munich, and the Argentine won very comfortably. I’d say yes, the match is on his racket; he’s the one who will dictate what happens. But seeing him play poorly and not particularly motivated at the moment raises big question marks, while on the other side Struff is just going to play his game and try to crush the ball as always. Thanks.