2021 Qatar ExxonMobil Open...ATP 250...Doha, Qatar

[stroke]

Obviously both those match outcomes surprised me. Rublev and Fritz just did not get it going. Not really interesting matches. Tsitsipas looks to be in a toss up vs Herbert in his match. Herbert has a nice all court game.

[stroke]

Bash wins the tournament, basicly just keeping outfitting his opponent, this time RBA, just as he did to Fed. He came into this tournament with bad results, and as one of the commentators said, not an exaggeration to say he was probably #28 likely to win this tournament going in, out of 28. Tennis very tough depth. Bash has a very big forehand, a solid strong backhand, and a very strong tennis build. Hard to believe he has not won more. I guess similar to Fucsovics. It is good to see a nice guy like Bash on the post match winner interview.

[stotty]

Yes, Bash plays well. He basically had too much pace for Roger when they played and knocked him off in the end. He was just so solid. Missed the final but the result didn't surprise me.

[stroke]

In Marseille, P Herbert served and vollyed his way to the final and loses to Medvedev 6-4 in the 3rd, very competitive match, very small margains. Herbert on #93 in the world, a very good player. It is nice to see a serve and volley game out there.

[stotty]

Hebert's serve certainly propels him nicely to the net after contact and delivers a decent payload. I didn't see the final but am curious to know how Medvedev handled someone serve and volleying against him? He's touted as having a high tennis IQ so I am assuming he didn't stand 20 feet behind the baseline to return? It's not Medvedev strong suit to take returns early.

Regardless, anyone who with a 130mph serve should be able to serve volley, especially when you consider how far back players like Medvedev and Nadal stand to return. It's a tragedy some players don't have the confidence or competence to serve and volley. Zverev has a humdinger of a serve but never follows it up. He wouldn't have much to put away a lot of the time.

Well done Herbert. I should like to have seen the final but it wasn't televised here.

[stroke]

It was a very close match. Really kind of came down to break points. Medvedev was 3/6, Herbert was 1/5. Once again, Herbert looked like another player that hard to believe ranked in low 90's.