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NO SPOILERS 🎥

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Dimitrov 🎥 Kukushkin

Gulbis 🎥 Sock

Haase 🎥 Zverev

Tsitsipas 🎥 Chardy

Pouille 🎥 Coric

RESULTS 🎾

💥 = Beatdown \\ 🤕 = Injury \\ ‼️ = Upset

Featured Matches:

Kukushkin d Dimitrov: 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 ‼️

Key 📊’s

Set 1: Both players landed a high number of 1st serves in (Dimitrov at 75%, Kukushkin at 73%) and both very secure on 1st serve points won (Dimitrov at 74% and Kukushkin at 88%). But Kukushkin defended his 2nd serve much better winning 6/6 points vs Dimitrov’s 2/9. That pressure on 2nd serve manifested as 3 break points faced by Dimitrov (saving 2/3) and 0 by Kukushkin.

Set 2: Dimitrov somehow won this set despite having to save 7/7 break points faced (vs 3/4 for Kukushkin) and his first serve in dropping to 50%. Grigor won only 10/24 2nd serve points and was in constant trouble on serve. His best tennis appeared when break point down, but was sorely lacking during the rest of the match. Dimitrov’s double fault yips returned with a vengeance, hitting 5 DF’s.

Set 3: Once again Dimitrov faced constant pressure on serve (saving 7/8 break points), but Kukushkin was also clutch, saving 5/5 of his own BP’s. Grigor’s serve just looked lightweight all match, as did his 2nd shot after the serve. Again Dimitrov saved his best tennis for when he was break point down, coming up with some fantastic shotmaking and net play. But seemed to lose the plot when he had break chances of his own.

Bad loss for Dimitrov. But an impressive performance from Kukushkin, who seems to like these slow, yet low bouncing, courts, and who served excellently in sets 1 & 3.

🎾

Zverev d Haase: 6-4, 7-5

Key 📊’s

Zverev was simply better on the big points than Zverev. That was the only difference. Haase created 10 break points on Zverev’s serve, and only converted twice. Zverev created 4 break points on Haase’s serve, and converted all four.

Zverev should be concerned about taking his foot off the peddle towards the end of the contest, while up a break and serving for the match. Played some really loose forehands to let Haase back in it. Thankfully for the German, Haase then capitulated in his next service game, handing the break back. But mental holidays like that have plagued some of Zverev’s matches this year and cost him precious wins (*cough* vs Tsitsipas in Toronto *cough*).

Zverev was decent on 1st serve, landing 61% of 1st serves in and winning 72 % of those points. But struggled all match on 2nd serve, winning just 43% or 13/30 points. The German keeps stepping back so far, ceding all court position, after hitting his 2nd serve, even if his opponent hasn’t hit a great return. Time will tell if Ivan Lendl can correct this, clearly deeply engrained, instinct.

🎾

Copil d Cilic: 7-5, 7-6(2) ‼️

Key 📊’s

Copil with a much better winners/errors ratio, 34:26, Cilic at 15:33. Costly errors while serving at 5-5 cost Cilic the decisive break in the first set, and once again in the 2nd set tiebreaker.

Copil served brilliantly, hitting 21 aces and winning 35/39 1st serve points. Saved both break points he faced in style. Looked completely untroubled on serve until the middle of the 2nd set.

Cilic landed a very poor 39% of his 1st serves in, but defended his 2nd serve admirably (winning 62% of those points). Simply came out 2nd best on every single big point (against an inspired opponent).

—

Also:

Basel🇨🇭:

Gulbis d Sock: 7-5, 6-4

Complete mess (details in the ‘Extras’ section below). But despite some drama and inexplicable breaks of serve, Gulbis was very good for flashes of the match. He was by far the more stable player and was pretty much unplayable when he landed a first serve in (60% of the time).

Tsitsipas d Chardy : 6-2, 7-6(3)

Bautista Agut (RBA) d Sousa: 6-4, 6-3

A match that had 12 breaks in 19 games! Scoreline looks comfortable but only because Sousa had even more of a nightmare when trying to hold serve than his opponent. RBA was far from his best today.

Lajovic d Mannarino : 6-7(4), 6-1, 6-2

Fritz d Laaksonen: 6-2, 7-5

Vienna🇦🇹:

Coric d Pouille: 4-6, 6-0, 6-4

Pouille looked so good for the first set. When everything is working for the Frenchman he looks like he can beat anyone, but in the 2nd set, and late in the third, he just went completely awol. A very tidy match from Coric (started a bit slowly) who faced 0 break points in the 2nd and 3rd sets and served excellently in the decider (winning 86% of 1st serve points and 80% on 2nd serve). Pouille’s long-match concentration/focus needs significant work.

Fucsovics d Fognini: 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 ‼️

Fognini looked tired after lots of recent tennis. Possibly still struggling with foot/ankle pain picked up last week. Fucsovics saved an incredible 10/13 break point. Fognini only 3 out of 9. Fucsovics took his chances, Fognini did not.

Anderson d Melzer : Walkover (🤕 Melzer taken to hospital for “health reasons”)

Khachanov d D.Novak : 6-3, 7-5

Edmund d Schwartzman: 6-3, 7-6(3)

Very impressive display from Edmund, who has shrugged off any suggestion of fatigue after his title run last week. A tight match, despite the scoreline, with each player only having one break point. Kyle took his, Diego didn’t. Solid breaker from Edmund to finish it off, and very secure on first serve (40/45 points won).

Monfils d Johnson: 4-6, 6-3, 6-2

SHOTS OF THE DAY 😮

— Amazing pass from Schwartzman (vs Edmund).

— Great pace from Gulbis (far end) to reach the drop shot and then a lovely Tweener from Sock (near end) giving Gulbis a difficult volley.

— Incredible pace again from Gulbis to reach the drop shop, and then the nice slice touch to finish with his own dropper.

— Zverev and Haase pretty much playing an exhibition match point in the 2nd set. The half-volley, tweener lob from Haase was👌. The tweener attempt from Zverev, not so much.

— One of those shots that nicely illustrates that the top guys play ‘within themselves’ for the vast majority of matches. This is Haase, 40-0 down, just letting loose on a forehand. It’s a solid 10-15mph faster than his average speed.

— Haase breaking Zverev in style to try and mount a late comeback.

— Coric (vs Pouille) used this brilliant slice forehand return to great effect in the 2nd set. Hit two of these in one game to secure an early double break. Such a safe and underrated shot selection, especially when stepping in and taking it early, thereby negating the possibility of Pouille making the volley.

— Pouille with some outstanding power off a low forehand ball. The Frenchman technically has everything any player could ever need to be truly great. And yet…

— Only Monfils could hit a forehand smash from a position every other player on earth could only hit a backhand smash from. 🔥

— Chardy (vs Tsitsipas) unloading on a backhand. Just the 93mph…

—Scoreboard kind’ve obscures the shot but this is Kukushkin (vs Dimitrov) coming up with a ludicrously good pass. All the more impressive when you consider that Kukushkin hits with zero topspin on his backhand… Tiny margins.

OOP: DAY 4 (THURSDAY) ⏰

Match to watch: 🔥

—

Basel - Centre Court

(1pm local🇨🇭, 12pm UK🇬🇧, 6am CT🇺🇸)

🇷🇺 Medvedev vs Seppi 🇮🇹 (H2H: 0-1) (Hard Court H2H: 0-1) 🔥

Prediction: Medvedev in 3

🇬🇷 Tsitsipas vs Gojowczyk 🇩🇪 (1st Meeting)

Prediction: Tsitsipas in 2

🇩🇪 A.Zverev vs Popyrin 🇦🇺 (1st Meeting)

Prediction: Zverev in 2

🇨🇭Federer vs Struff 🇩🇪 (H2H: 3-0) (Hard Court H2H: 1-0)

Prediction: Federer in 2

🇱🇻 Gulbis vs Simon 🇫🇷 (H2H: 0-2) (Hard Court H2H: 0-2 ) 🔥

Prediction: Simon in 3

🎾

Basel - Court 1

(3pm local🇨🇭, 2pm UK🇬🇧, 8am CT🇺🇸)

🇪🇸 Bautista Agut vs Lajovic 🇷🇸 (H2H: 2-0) (Hard Court H2H: 2-0)

Prediction: Bautista Agut in 3

Vienna - Centre Court

(1pm local🇨🇭, 12pm UK🇬🇧, 6am CT🇺🇸)

🇯🇵 Nishikori vs Khachanov 🇷🇺(H2H: 1-2) (Hard Court H2H: 1-0) 🔥

Prediction: Nishikori in 3

🇬🇧 Edmund vs Verdasco 🇪🇸 (1st Meeting) 🔥

Prediction: Edmund in 3

🇦🇹 Thiem vs Querrey 🇺🇸 (H2H: 2-1) (Hard Court H2H: 1-1)

Prediction: Thiem in 3

🇫🇷 Monfils vs Isner 🇺🇸 (H2H: 6-4) (Hard Court H2H: 6-4)

Prediction: Monfils in 2

🎾

Vienna - Next Gen Court

(2:30pm local🇨🇭, 1:30pm UK🇬🇧, 7:30am CT🇺🇸)

🇷🇺 Rublev vs Kukushkin 🇰🇿 (H2H: 1-1) (Hard Court H2H: 1-1) 🔥

Prediction: Rublev in 3

EXTRAS 🔍📊🎤

The Gulbis vs Sock Circus in Basel

🎪

Sock (who gets broken right after Gulbis took a MTO): "Do you think they'll give me a medical timeout too or should I not bother asking?"

Gulbis (sitting down after break): "(Very sarcastically) Jack I reeally apologise for screwing your rhythm *death stares Sock*."

Umpire: “Gulbis leads by 5 games to 4.”

*Gulbis then hits two double faults in a row, is broken while serving for the set*

Gulbis (loudly): “FUCK!”

Sock (even louder): “CMOOONN”.

*Gulbis launches ball into crowd, narrowly misses disembowelling a spectator*

Umpire: “5 games all.”

*Sock breaks himself to love (again), Gulbis finally serves out the set*

Umpire: “Gulbis leads by one set to love”

Sock (sitting down): ….*seethes* …

*Middle of 2nd set, umpire mistakenly calls “New Balls” (clearly distracted by the utter shitshow occurring on court)*

Sock (sarcastically to umpire): “You’re en feugo today!”

*Sock then mimes a crying face to mock Gulbis*

*2nd set, 4-4*

Gulbis: “He (Sock) is just whining and whining non-stop, yeah you’re crying”

Sock: “Play by the rules.”

Gulbis: “Man up.”

*Sock attempts a 250mph serve that nearly lands on the baseline*

Umpire: Game, set match Gulbis.

Gulbis wins in straight sets. Complete mess of a match with a few incredible points and a lot of wild errors. Not the worst handshake though 🤷‍♂️.

Jack Sock now has a record of 2 wins & 13 losses in his last 15 matches. He is also defending the vast majority (1000) of his 1760 ranking points next week in Paris. A further 400 points will also drop off as he cannot defend his ATP Finals points in November. Sock could very easily find himself outside the top 150 in a few weeks time unless he makes some moves in Paris.

Top 5 ATP wins in 2018:

Zverev 50 (1)

Thiem 49 (2)

Del Potro 47 (3)

Fognini 46 (4)

Nadal 45 (5)

Djokovic 45 (5)

Ernest Gulbis will return to the top 100 when the rankings are updated next week. GOATBIS.

— Taylor Fritz making a mostly under-the-radar surge up the rankings.

LOL 😂

— Pretty sure Gulbis would have preferred it if this ball had ended up a little closer to Sock’s mouth.

— Tough times for Dimitrov fans.

— Sock: “Play by the rules.”

GAME, SET, MATCH 👋

— The Racquet is created, and written, by Matt.

— You can find me on Twitter here.

See you tomorrow for Basel & Vienna Day 4!