A breather of a match!

Easy matches are rare in Grand Slams, but Bonzi and Khachanov were able to conserve energy during their second‑round wins.

Bonzi got his revenge on Buse, but the Peruvian was simply wiped out after his title in Winston-Salem and an already draining first-round match. In the end, there was barely more than one competitive set and that was it. It’s good for Bonzi because the Frenchman is playing some great tennis at the moment, but physically, he scares me a bit sometimes. In this case, being able to save energy is a real luxury for him. And when you know his mentality and the game plan he needs to stick to, with Mahut always behind him, you can say that in a Grand Slam on this type of surface, he can really do damage. It’s no coincidence that last year he beat Daniil here. Our Frenchman is gaining confidence, raising his level, and he’ll be a real threat tomorrow.

Another danger that we weren’t necessarily expecting is the Russian Karen Khachanov, who, as if by magic, finds a very good level again in the Grand Slams. It was expected, because that’s a habit of his, but on the other hand, he’s really had a disastrous season, and nothing allowed us to say with certainty before the tournament that he was going to play well again. He too was able to conserve energy against Auger Aliassime, since the Canadian was not at 100% and only really put up a proper fight for about a set and a half. I still feel that Khachanov’s level is clearly higher than what we’ve seen in recent months, but it’s not perfect yet for the Russian, who notably lacked precision on serve, and mainly managed to loosen up once he felt Félix was completely exhausted.

After a one-sided match for both players, they’re going to have to go back into a battle. Khachanov leads the head-to-head by a wide margin with three wins in three meetings, but the last one dates back to 2022. It’s true that there was a pretty big gap in level in the previous years. Given that the Russian’s level has dropped for some time now and that Bonzi is gaining momentum, I expect this to be much tighter. And we shouldn’t immediately assume that Khachanov is flawless.

Bonzi will try to play super aggressive and move forward to the net, which could deprive Khachanov of the time he needs to set up his baseline game. But it’s clear that in terms of consistency and stability, the Russian will have the advantage over the long haul.