Dubai Tennis Championships, March 18, 2021 and Mexican Open, March 18, 2021

Dubai Tennis Championships

Today Eurosport decided to gift us with snippets from the Mexican Open. I knew the championship is ongoing but I watch what Eurosport is airing and yesterday Acapulco was not on the menu. In a way it's good as who has time to watch sports events all day and knowing what you miss can be painful.

I'm starting with the Dubai Championship because that was the one I started this series with, not that it matters as it matters only to me.

Lloyd Harris vs Kei Nishikori

It was the most amazing match I've seen so far in Dubai. Two players of the same value for me, fighting till the end with the same effort. My favorite games are those in which the result can't be predicted, it decides at the last moment and this match was like that.

The first set was shocking, Lloyd Harris managed to get to 5 - 0 which doesn't happen often, at least I haven't seen any match with a set like that before. Kei Nishikori had a hard time finding his rhythm and the situation looked very dramatically for him. At some point I even felt sorry for him, then his luck changed as he managed to win a game somehow.

Losing to 6 - 1 in the first set must have marked him and maybe motivated him enough to up his tempo. The second set was better for him as he won but his happiness ended in the third set.

Lloyd Harris had an excellent performance once again. I thought he would maybe be defeated today as young players can not always have the same performance several times in a row. That comes with time and experience and they have very little of both in the beginning. However, Harris seems to be different as even though he came from qualifications, he was as good as yesterday.

At some point in the third set he fell on his hand, luckily it was his left hand and he's right handed, so his game wasn't affected by the fall. Would have been a shame to injure himself.

Looking at the statistics, Harris had 14 aces, while Nishikori one! This is a bit shocking though.

I'm happy to see Harris qualified for the quarter finals. he is a talented player with a lot of self confidence and deserves to go on.

Márton Fucsovics vs Andrey Rublev

This match should have been the highlight of the day. Rublev is 2 seed while Fucsovics is the best player Hungary had for the last few decades but for me nothing can beat Harris's performance.

The first set was a joy to watch, honestly. Both players won on their serving and looked like both are at the same level. For a moment I thought they really are, even though I knew they aren't. Then what I dreaded happened. Fucsovics looked very tired and towards the end of the second set he was just dragging himself.

He had two extremely difficult matches before that took a lot out of him, that showed today. He got angry several times, started swearing in Hungarian, which was not nice at all. I speak the same language, so I could understand what he was saying and with his behavior he lost some brownie points.

The result of the match wasn't surprising, Fucsovics had 8 double faults, which is way too much for this level of tennis.

Rublev was constant and he did what he does best, he won!

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Important to note, in Dubai there are no spectators, people in the arena are either family members and/or trainers while in Acapulco the arena was full of people and social distancing was not exactly what it should be.

Mexican Open, March 18, 2021

Stefanos Tsitsipas vs John Isner

So this is why today we got to see Stefanos Tzitzipas 1 seed playing against the American John Isner, currently ATP No. 27 and new to me. What is important here to mention about Isner is that he's 208cm. Male tennis players are usually tall, if I were to make and average I'd around 190cm, and there are a few over 200cm, but not many. I only know the South African Kevin Anderson, who's 203cm but Isner has outgrown the South African.

Height can definitely be and advantage in tennis and I think every cm counts. Being tall, having longer legs and arms can give you the advantage of covering more surface quickly.

However, height did not help Isner today. Playing against ATP No. 5 is never easy. Isner is at the end of his career (my personal opinion), he's 35 and his best result was ATP No. 8 in July 2018. I hope I'm wrong but today's performance proves me right.

Tsitsipas had an easy job today, beating him in two sets. Isner was serving poorly and could not find his rhythm. He had a few good moves but not enough. His win % on 1st serve was only 59%, which is very low, compared to 96% of Tsitsipas'. Win % on 2nd serve was even worse, 47% for John Isner. Tsitsipas did not have to put in too much energy in this game as victory was put aside for him. He did not break any sweat today, the sweat was from the heat of Acapulco.

Laslo Đere vs Alexander Zverev

Again, 2 seed playing against ATP No. 54, but the match was not exactly a piece of cake for Zverev. Laslo Đere was better than John Isner, a bit more experience is what he needs and can climb higher. Looking at his age (25), one could say he's still young, can advance in his career but Alexander Zverev is 23 and ATP No. 7 at the moment, so age is not always a factor.

If you look at the statistics, win % on 1st serve was more balanced but still not very good as Zverev has 62% and Đere 56%. Both numbers should be higher. The Win % on 2nd serve is even worse here, Zverev 46% and Đere 42%.

Apart from these two matches, Fabio Fognini lost to Norrie, which is not good news as Fognini was 6 seed but his performance is fluctuating, he's emotional and that is costing him dearly.

Dimitrov I was expecting to win but wasn't expecting Raonic to lose. He was 4 seed yet he lost.

Predictions for tomorrow if I may:

Zverev should win against Ruud and I think he will.
Dimitrov should also beat Musetti.
Tzitzipas will sure win against Auger Aliassime.

This is going to be another interesting match. We know Harris seems unstoppable but every good run can have an end. Shapovalov is 3 seed, so everything is possible. We'll see.