Big stuff for Arthur.

Gea comes through qualifying and is once again making the most of his chance. The Frenchman is opportunistic, but given the quality of his tennis right now, he totally deserves to be here. He's got a tough opponent waiting for him, but that’s not going to scare him.

The Frenchman almost didn’t even make it into the qualifiers and could already consider himself lucky to be playing the tournament. It could take an even nicer turn tomorrow if he were to win, but the road is long. In any case, he has fully controlled his first matches here. On the other hand, the level is going to rise drastically. He hasn’t beaten many big names so far, but he’s been very focused and hasn’t dropped a set. I find him more and more complete and, above all, confident in his game. He’s progressing at lightning speed and will have a few weapons to hurt Hurkacz, especially thanks to his quality on the return. He stands far back to return, concedes fewer aces than average, and can play either on the counter or on the attack.

On Hurkacz’s side, the momentum is very good with a final in Chengdu last week and a high-level first round against Tien today. It was a tough sequence, because coming off a lost final and then facing Tien in the first round was anything but a gift, but the Pole once again played a solid match with an interesting mix of defensive and offensive phases. I don’t know at what point he’s going to start to fade physically, since his game is very demanding, but the fact that he has to play again tomorrow after another battle doesn’t appeal to me much in his case. Above all, I didn’t see an exceptional attitude, especially at the start of the second set where he almost lost the thread of the match and seemed very tilted, even almost resigned at times. Then he managed to pull himself together, but it was a bit borderline in my opinion.

For a first meeting, it’s a bit of an unknown. For my part, I feel they’re capable of doing more or less the same things. They’re tall, they serve well, but they’re also comfortable on the return. In theory, Arthur might have a somewhat similar profile in certain respects. In any case, I find the Frenchman dangerous and in great form. Admittedly, Hurkacz is also playing very well again, but there’s a slight potential physical factor. And even without that, I think Gea will play his match and won’t be very far off in terms of the score.