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I saw Felix and Medvedev easily win in Rotterdam last night. Medvedev's opponent(van de Zandschulp) has a good record in Rotterdam but was a bit off physically, which is something you can't be against Medvedev.


thats a good win for Alex. Cressy is a tough player to beat. Got Dimitrov next. Winnable.
 

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The big result from last night,

Sinnter gets his first top 3 win of his career and revenge for the 1/16 match by beating Stefo in 2 straight sets.
Watched this one. Tsitsipas was a bit off, the BH was shanking balls everywhere, and his net play was pretty average, giving Sinner lots of good looks to pass. Sinner was dominant on serve, and just really focussed.

Currently watching Musetti, guy is so unpredictable. Played two superb drop shots in one game to break, including an utterly ridiculous BH dropper that barely landed a few feet from the net and spun backwards. Then he gets broken the very next game. Lots of time for him, an enjoyable game, but he’s pretty frustrating.
 
Man I love watching Musetti, just so much talent. What a ball striker, both wings, just huge, love the pace injections.

Thiem is a bit one step forward, two steps back at the moment. Disappointing loss yesterday, would’ve been nice to see two singlehanded backhands go at it. Liking this tournament, crowds have been excellent, was absolutely packed for Alcaraz yesterday. I started watching before I had to sleep, he started amazing,
defence ridiculous and forehand on fire. Turned into a bit of a struggle but not unexpected.
 
Up to date with Argentina. Firstly, Musetti is a treat to watch, but I’m now struggling to ever see him as a threat to win the French. Taken big leads against Djokovic and Tsitsipas in past few editions of the FO but the backhand is just too weak. Produces flashy winners but doesn’t defend anywhere near well enough from that wing. Clearly a natural on clay, and his FH can just light it up, but consistency is the issue, as well as the defence. What he’s got going for him though is time.

Alcaraz has returned and looks like he hasn’t missed a beat. He should beat Norrie tomorrow morning for his first title of many for the year. Impressed with Norrie in reaching the final, his second of the year, but unless he produces something special it’s another title for the 19 year old. Carlos is just awesome to watch, the athleticism, the forehand, the drop shots, but above all, the off the charts tennis IQ. Seems to see the point unfold ahead of time.

Rotterdam. Behind, struggling to catch up. But currently watching the Sinner/Wawrinka QF and I’m glad I did if nothing else than to see the interaction between Stan and a young fan. Stan was getting destroyed, had just smashed a racquet, down a set and a break and then he had a little engagement with this early teen who was court-side. Stan won this huge point to bring up 0-40, and he turns to the kid, points at him, who is just going crazy with excitement. It was honestly brilliant, I love the emotions of sport.

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Up to date with Rotterdam. Sinner is on fire. Griekspoor was excellent, played probably as well as he can, but Sinner too good when it mattered most. Only one BP total all match, which Sinner converted in the first set. Sinner is just unbelievably consistent, gets everything back with depth, doesn’t miss himself, and is making a real effort to finish off points at the net. This is what I noticed Cahill was working on a lot with him in Adelaide. Medvedev is clearly playing very well himself, but I see Sinner taking this and securing back to back titles.
 

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Really can’t get into this Medvedev. Just ultra defensive and grinding. Rarely looking to inject pace, just mid weighted shots landing just over the service line. The awfully slow courts at Rotterdam aided his style, pretty bland tennis. The first set was pretty dull for a 70 minute 7-5 set featuring two elite players. In fact the whole match was dull except for a 10-15 minute stretch in the third set where both were playing great.

Sinner was a little fatigued at times, not surprising given he was backing up a title last week. He enjoys pace and a rhythm and Medvedev didn’t give him any pace to work off. Sinner was being forced to be the one to go for his shots, be the aggressor, and while he is obviously capable, it’s probably not his forte. Can’t say I’m going to voluntarily tune into many of Medvedev’s matches moving forward. Sinner is top class but doesn’t have much variety, it’s same same. Unless he finds a way to add some, he might always fall short.

Argentina final was good, Norrie came out firing and really took it to Alcaraz but eventually made a few errors and Alcaraz just needs a sniff. Liked the fight of Norrie in the second set as he broke Alcaraz serving for the match, got it back to 5-5 but was broken when trying to force a TB. Worth noting Alcaraz served one at 223kph, that’s massive! Clay tennis really is very good, give me that over Rotterdam’s rubbish court speed anyday.

Currently watching Delray Beach and Fritz is playing ridiculous tennis. 13 winners, 1 UE think I heard. Don‘t rate Kecmanovic at all but still, nice to see Fritz finding his best form of the year.
 
Action packed February continues this week with 3 more tournaments. A 500 event in Rio, and 250’s in Marseille and Doha.

Rio:

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Essentially its Buenos Aires take II. Alcaraz the top seed, Norrie the second, Musetti the third, it’s literally the same, and yet this is a 500. Compare this to Rotterdam…seems wrong. The highlight is the final tournament in the career of Thomaz Bellucci. I genuinely thought he retired years ago. I actually used to really enjoy watching him play in his peak, was pretty exciting, a little similar to Musetti now actually. All eyes on Alcaraz and whether he can back up his win in Argentina. You’d say he will.

Marseille:

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Another indoor hard event, hopefully quicker court speed than Rotterdam. Hurkacz the top seed, Sinner the second, but will the Italian play a third consecutive week? Has a bye first up so a little time to rest, but he must be fatigued. Aurthur Fils is back in action and if he wins his first round match he’ll have another crack at Sinner. ADM is in action here and has a bye first up which has me puzzled? Anyone know why?

Doha:

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Really like this field. Rublev top seed, FAA, Medvedev, Zverev the other top 4 seeds and with byes through to the second round. Andy Murray in this one, against Sonego first and if successful, a match against Zverev. Jiri Lehecka back in action after AO QF, hopefully he can build off that showing. Some Aussie flavour with Kubler against Karatsev and O’Connell against Verdasco. Comfortably my favourite field of the week.
 
ADM would be the 3rd seed there but there's no.3 before his name
Ahhh right, makes sense, was thrown off because they hadn’t advanced Dimi either but official tournament website has them into R2 with byes.

16 year old Brazilian Joao Fonseca is up against Molcan in Rio tomorrow morning. Always worth keeping an eye on the youngsters. A 2006 birth date though really makes me feel old… Anyway really don’t expect much at all from the kid, serve is a bit of a point starter, but has an aggressive game, solid both wings, doesn’t mind transitioning to the net, plays with intensity. We’ll see how he goes.
 
Jason Kubler was down a break against Karatsev but fought back to take the first set in a TB.

Karatsev took a fall and took a medical time-out but started playing again. Lost that first game and then retired.

Kubler should reach a new career-high ranking of 70 next week.
 
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Jason Kubler was down a break against Karatsev but fought back to take the first set in a TB.

Karatsev took a fall and took a medical time-out but started playing again. Lost that first game and then retired.

Kubler should reach a new career-high ranking of 70 next week.
Jeez. That’s very unfortunate for Karatsev. But for Kubler to even be word number 70 after all he overcame. Nuts
 

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