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Well that was abysmal from Ugo Humbert against a struggling Matteo Berrettini. At the very least he made it quick and relatively painless.
For Wednesday’s ATP preview (though the U.S. Open isn’t governed by the ATP) from the U.S. Open, we’ll preview Stefanos Tsitsipas vs Dominic Stricker as the second round gets underway.
In this article:
After what appeared to be a statement match from Tsitsipas against Milos Raonic in the first round, he’s right back at it against another big server in Stricker.
This time, however, it’s not an ageing veteran right-handed player he’s taking on, it’s a much younger lefty that will be on the other side of the net.
That’s of particular significance, because Tsitsipas’ backhand is known to be vulnerable against powerful serves and groundstrokes, and if Stricker can target that wing with his crosscourt forehands, that makes the risk involved much less worrisome.
The Swiss did play four sets of tennis last round though and I’m semi-concerned that he may run out of gas. So along with the handicap, I’ll take the over games, in case he does keep it close for four or five sets and fades enough at the end to void or lose the handicap.
Read on for more expert insights.
Much like Matteo Berrettini, Tsitsipas came into this event with a lot of concerns regarding his level – especially against other players in the upper echelons of the sport.
Sure, he won a smaller tournament in Los Cabos, where the rest of the field was relatively weak, but when it counted, he was sent packing in Toronto and Cincinnati with just one win combined.
He did look incredible against Milos Raonic, who many expected to give him problems thanks to his big serve and powerful forehand. After all, that’s the knock on Tsitsipas, his return game suffers against big servers and powerful ball strikers.
The thing is, Raonic didn’t look anywhere near where he was on grass when he first came back from an absence of about two years. The double faults were free-flowing, the forehands seemed a tad underpowered and he was the one committing the errors in baseline exchanges that should’ve favoured him.
I’m not so sure the Greek will be as lucky again on Wednesday.
The 21-year-old from just outside of the Swiss capital has saved his best this summer for the biggest events on the schedule.
He’s bookended some really poor results from down at the Challenger Tour level with six wins in qualifying at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open and now a first-round victory in New York to one-up his showing in London.
He’s got a huge lefty first serve and booming groundstrokes, which should help him keep Tsitsipas on the back foot during his service games.
The concern over whether he could play clean service games with consistency was always the big concern with Stricker, but he’s proven to be fairly solid when on serve so far in New York.
With how well his power – specifically being left-handed – plays in this matchup, I’m not sure he should be such a big underdog.
Tsitsipas and Stricker have met just once before, in Stuttgart on the grass last season. Tsitsipas did manage to find the break in each of the two sets and close that one out in routine fashion.
With the surface change and Tsitsipas still lagging a bit behind where we’re used to seeing him, I wouldn’t put too much stock in that meeting.
Odds as at 3:30 am UK Time on August 30th, 2023. Odds may now differ.
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