Problem solved?

Svrcina made an incredibly high number of double faults during the US Open and shot himself in the foot, even though his level of play was excellent.

I don’t know if he’s completely past this issue, but in his two qualifying matches in Hangzhou he limited his double faults and seems to have stopped the bleeding for now. It obviously needs to be confirmed, but that’s the only negative point in his tennis these last few weeks, because his level of play is very high. He’s very difficult to face. He neutralizes his opponents’ serves, makes them play, and ends up being incredibly hard to beat. I’ve been quite impressed by his level of play which, when you think about it, manages to make up for a huge weakness on serve. I rate him fairly highly, and this is a swing where he generally gets pretty decent results, with some nice wins here last year in particular. He’s a serious contender this week.

On Hijikata’s side, you can also say he’s a player who generally does well on these swings. This part of the world doesn’t scare him at all, far from it. His level of play this year is pretty solid. I’d say it’s quite a highly anticipated match. The thing is, Hijikata can also force things. Personally, I like him when he’s the underdog and manages to make his opponents doubt themselves. In my opinion, he’s going to be the one trying to impose his game. When I look at how poor the quality of his backhand is, and the fact that he uses a lot of slice—which can bother some players but not Svrcina—I tell myself he’s going to have some serious problems here. In terms of pure level of play, I think I rate Svrcina higher than him.

Hijikata’s win at the start of the year in Delray Beach also needs to be put into context. The Australian started the season very strongly and took advantage of a Svrcina who took some time to get his year going before no longer slowing down. This time, in my view, the dynamics are reversed, and Svrcina seems to have taken a step forward in his game.