Tennis Prediction Luciano Darderi vs Rinky Hijikata: Cincinnati

🇺🇸 Cincinnati

• There is one figure that commands this match: Rinky Hijikata's serve is one of the weakest in the draw. Yesterday against Monfils, he only won 66% of points behind his first serve, and it took an evening of great success in return to compensate.

• But if there's one thing Luciano Darderi knows how to do, it's punish a fragile serve. His two wins against the Australian are beatings: 6-2 6-1 6-2 at the US Open, 6-3 7-6 6-1 at Roland Garros. When the Italian takes control of the rally, this duel has never been a duel.

• The equation for the evening is therefore simple: break point opportunities for Darderi in every game, and on the other side a player who will have to harvest against a much more solid server.

• I owe transparency to the two real reservations in the file. One, Darderi's ranking is a clay court ranking: 22 wins on clay this season, 7 on hard, and it's on hard that Hijikata won their only duel played on this surface, in March at Indian Wells.

• Two, the Australian has the rhythm, he just came back against Monfils, when the Italian hasn't played for four days.

• The pick assumes these reservations because the central mechanism does not change: over the course of a match, a serve at this level ends up giving in, and Darderi is the profile that makes it give in.