Barcelona, Munich

[jimlosaltos]

Zverev had a tough comeback win over Tallon Griekspoor (who somewhat quietly has one of the best forehands on the tour) in Munich.
Ben Shelton looms.

de Minaur broke Alcaraz early, but from then on the Spaniard cruised in a stylish match.

Tsitsipas retired vs Fils with an apparent recurrent of a back injury. Sounds threatening

Ruud over Rune. No word if Holger behaved.

[neilchok]

I think I saw Rune's mom there. Sometimes I guess the parents do help.

[jimlosaltos]

Two interesting finals coming up tomorrow/ Sunday.

Munich; Zverev vs Shelton. I'm surprised they've only met once before, with the German winning a tough match, from down a set and needing a second set tiebreak.
I suspect the clay favors Zverev, and Ben's left serve is unlikely to dent Zverev's backhand.

Barcelona: Alcaraz vs Rune. Tomorrow's Barcelona final features Carlos Alcaraz, the only player on tour to have won even 9 games in a row this year {How can that be true? But who am I to question the ATP's stats?} vs a suddenly resurgent Holger Rune. Rune beat Alcaraz by retirement during the Dane's break out run to the Paris/ Bercy title in 2022, but Spainaird leads 2-1 overall, most recently a straight sets win in the 2023 Wimbledon quarterfinals.

Rune got here by overcoming arch-nemesis Casper Ruud, who held a 6-1 H2H edge. But Rune easily topped his Norwegian rival this week. Ruud is trying to change his game from playing defense behind some of the biggest topspin on tour, to being more offensive. That's been going well but played right into the younger Rune's hands. Rune is frequently impatient, leading to going for winners from losing positions. But he fed off Ruud pace, repeatedly going for winners early and hitting a number of blistering, down-the-line backhands.