Two Comebacks

Both players are hoping to finish the season strong...

Muller has done an excellent job of taking advantage of a somewhat soft draw to reach the quarterfinals. He faced two inexperienced players in his two main draw matches, Kouame and Cina, and won both very easily! He seems to be really thriving in the conditions, considering he is yet to be broken in 44 service games. However, his next opponent should provide a much tougher test. Fokina was not perfect, but he played a great match, considering he had not played for a long time. As expected, it was a rather good matchup against JM. Cerundolo, who could really take over the match, did not give the Argentine any time to build his crafty game.

In theory, this should be another good matchup for Fokina. Muller has been able to win his matches by playing solid tennis... he serves pretty well, his backhand is great, he can stay solid from the baseline and also play at the net a bit if needed. Against Fokina, this is usually not enough, since he can do everything I just listed, but better... against most players. However, Muller has passed the tests so far with flying colours, and it still remains early in the comeback for Fokina. We see it all the time: someone who returns from injury, plays a great first match, and then struggles a bit more in the upcoming matches. I'm not necessarily sure that will be the case here, but it's worth keeping in mind!