Vallejo, this disguised top 5?

Huge level from Vallejo against a Jodar who was admittedly a bit in trouble. Let’s see what it looks like against Berrett!

My first thought is to say that it’s not going to be the same lemonade for our dear Adolfo. Why? Because Berrettini chops up your rhythm with his trio of big serve, big forehand, big backhand slice, and Vallejo is a clay-courter in his DNA. Sure, the Paraguayan hits hard on hard courts, and he’s shown some absolutely monstrous returning quality against Jodar in particular, but he attacks with topspin and good grinding patterns in the diagonals, like a proper clay guy. With his average level, I’m having a bit of trouble figuring out what level of opposition he’ll actually offer against Berrett’s profile. But when he gets going like this, he’s scary. The last time he tore everything up was in Cincinnati, and he lost to Paul by the skin of his teeth. Here, his three matches have been more than convincing!

On the other side, I don’t want to underestimate Berrett, even if he’s in a perpetual cycle of comebacks or breaks because of his body. His level only went up against a Foki who still kind of threw in the towel in the third set. But massive serving quality from the Italian, much better than Jodar in my opinion, and different too. Not sure Vallejo will read him as well. In the rallies, honestly, he handled Foki’s extreme aggressiveness really well, and Foki never let go of that strategy. This is a Berrett who can be very dangerous I think, but with him, we never really have much perspective because of his schedule. And on the return side, it’s still not quite there...