The finalist steps onto the court.

Royer’s wild run at this tournament last year must still be on his mind. The Frenchman has a lot of points to defend and really can’t afford to slip up.

Royer went all the way through the draw starting from the qualies last year and beat some big names on his way to the final. I clearly remember his rise in level, where he went from pretty decent and good matches in the early rounds to being almost unplayable afterwards. His ultra-offensive game worked really well all week in those quick conditions and everything clicked. That memory could help him get his form back because his season has been quite disappointing yet again. The few wins he has are generally in Challengers, and sometimes we see him play good matches against good players, but he can’t manage to maintain that level all the time. I want to believe in him, but on the other hand, I don’t like it when there’s pressure on his shoulders, and that run last year started from qualifying. This time, he’ll be coming in cold, just like his first-round opponent, and all the pressure is on his shoulders.

Walton is having a pretty interesting year, with mostly solid tournaments and losses that I would describe as respectable each time. It’s rare for him to completely miss the mark, and he’s a steady player on tour, hard to beat, because he serves very well and is also solid from the baseline, able to switch from attack to defense. He’s a complete player. His US swing wasn’t dazzling, but I saw some good matches and decent overall level. Even against Wu, who played an insane match and caught fire, Walton had his chances in two of the three sets he lost. Maybe he’s still missing that killer instinct, but in terms of the content of his matches, I’m fairly convinced.

First meeting between the two, and I’m not convinced it’s a great match-up for Royer because he’s going to have a few problems on the return, and I don’t think he’ll manage to be as dominant from the baseline or create huge gaps right away against a player like this. I actually like the match-up more for Walton, who will be able to alternate between aggressive phases on his own service games and pretty solid counterpunching in the more defensive phases. It might be less flashy than Royer, but as an underdog with nothing to lose, playing quite well at the moment, it leans his way, doesn’t it?