Time to shine at home

Can Sakamoto build on his US Open run?

Well, it wasn't a run super deep or anything. Still, getting through qualifying and losing a big match to Tiafoe in the second round is not too bad. I really enjoy watching the Japanese play; I'll admit it. He has a huge serve and plays aggressively with big groundstrokes. He is still quite raw; it shows quite often. His rally tolerance is not the best, and outside the serve and +1, his game is not that well-rounded. His movement can be a bit iffy, and he is not the most comfortable in the forecourt. I do like the fact that I feel like he can perform pretty well in big moments. I've seen him hit big serves on pressure points quite often... also, he was ice-cool against Nishikori with a big Japanese crowd just recently at the US Open. This is a big tournament for the Japanese players, so there will be a bit of pressure - especially since he hasn't made it past qualifying the last two times.

As for Arnaldi, it's pretty much the same stuff that we are used to. Huge battles and big swings in level during the matches. He can go from absolutely fantastic to not being able to put balls on the court... that's why his matches tend to be competitive and long. This matchup looks alright for him, as long as he can get enough balls back into play to get into some rallies. I don't love his form heading into this... I thought he was not great against Duckworth, and a loss to Landaluce before that. However, that was a while ago, and now it's a new tournament in different conditions...