"I wasn't surprised by Dino, he has shown how good he is"

Another great victory for Dino Prižmić. I wasn’t surprised, but we can’t say that it was a sure thing. Zsombor Piros was the favourite because he is ranked higher, but that was about it. Once you hit the court, rankings fly out of the picture and some other rules apply.

We had another chance to see how good Dino is, and that all of the progress he made wasn’t a fluke. Last year, when he also got here with an invitation to the main tournament, he was sidelined by an injury, but now we get to see him in all his glory. He has made tremendous progress over the past 12 months. I didn’t expect him to be this impressive, but he played very well and showed everyone what he’s capable of. I’m glad this happened, he’s been saying it for a long time now, and I’m happy that he displays such an attitude.

Placing in the quarter-finals is a great achievement. This is a real, big tournament, and placing in the quarter-finals at an ATP tournament is not a random thing. Next, he faces Australian Popyrin, who’s had some good results this year, and has beaten some amazing players, making him a very, very good player. But still, I believe Prižmić can handle him. Of course, if he plays to the best of his abilities. It wouldn’t be the first time something like that happens.

I always enjoy watching Stan Wawrinka, and this time was no exception. He played very convincingly, but truth be told, it was like Misolic wasn’t even at the court. He would show up now and then, show some resistance, but it wasn’t nearly enough. He might have had too much respect for his opponent and once things took a turn for the worse there was no recovering. At that point, it’s too late. When you’re playing against someone like Wawrinka, you can’t allow yourself to fall that much behind and then hope Santa Claus shows up and brings back all you’ve lost. There’s always something to learn from a painful experience, so Misolic is sure to remember this and know how to react better next time.

I have to mention Matteo Arnaldi again, who is my dark horse for this tournament. I have already said he was a player no one talks about, but who can go very far. His play is improving day in, day out, and he made it to the quarter-finals, I’m looking forward to watching him on Friday.