The Wrecking Ball

Basil is having one of his weeks...

Nikoloz certainly delivered for us against Kecmanovic... the scoreline was 7-6, 6-4, but that match was not as competitive as that might indicate! As was the case against Shapovalov, Miomir really struggles when he is getting overpowered by a big hitter; he is not the guy who can defend well enough... especially not in these kinds of fast conditions! Last year in Chengdu, Basil was looking quite powerful as well, until he ran into Musetti in the quarterfinal and took a 6-3, 6-3 loss. Now, VDZ does not play or defend the same way as Musetti does, but he should be able to provide a tougher test than Lu, Cina, or Kecmanovic did ;)

VDZ is someone who really excels at balancing offensive and defensive phases of play; he covers the court extremely well and can turn a lot of points around, especially with a great transition game. However, I still prefer him in a role where he is not pushed back as much, because I've also seen him a few times when he gets pinned back and can't really get his game going (like against Fonseca recently). He does have a better serve and more firepower than Kecmanovic, so he should have more opportunities to stay solid in his own serve games at least. Also, Botic mentioned that he has become a lot more consistent and able to stay positive on the court and not get stuck and frustrated due to mistakes on the court. I would say I agree, especially after those two massive epic five-setter wins against Bergs and Gea at the US Open. Careful, though; he is playing his first match here due to having a BYE, and he gets to face an opponent on-fire that can take the racket out of your hand!