(2) Botack Andiam vs Ceallachan AmlaoibhBotack Andiam has enjoyed an excellent clay court season so far: reaching two Tier 1 finals, in Antillia and over in Beograd, and winning the one in Beograd as well. Andiam could become world number one if he reaches the final of the Astyrian Slam, but first, he has to play against Ceallachan Amlaoibh, one of the fine Ferret players who has taken the tennis world by storm. Amlaoibh has had quite a few wins on the NSTT in his short career and reached the quarterfinals in Novo Lisboa and the fourth round in Antillia, indicating he can play with the big boys. Most of the ferrets, which are very short (coming up to around 3 feet in height, have trouble on their service games but excel in the returns, meaning there will likely be quite a few breaks when a ferret is in the game. (Some even wonder how ferrets can play tennis at all, with their tails always getting in the way). But Andiam poses a dilemma for Amlaoibh: he has one of the strongest serves on tour, regularly in the 140 miles-per-hour range, and hits quite a few aces. On the second serve, he's been known to hit aces, and his kick serve can be particularly devastating - especially for the diminutive ferrets. In fact, most of the losses their top players have faced have come from big servers - such as Andy Amada, Andiam (who defeated the top Ferret, Dagmar Lusaidh, in Antillia), and Dioro Hansil. Therefore it's not a bit of a stretch to say that Andiam will win most, if not all, of his service games. But Amlaoibh has shown gutsy promise on the return - yet Andiam is confident of his service power. Finally, on the return, Andiam has excellent groundstrokes as well, hits plenty of return winners, and has generally good shot-making as a whole. So it's not a stretch to see Andiam winning this matchup.
Winner: Andiam(9) Andy Amada vs (27) Felice MareauxThis is one of the few matches in the third round, and the only one in the bottom half, to feature two seeded players, and it would be a cruel irony of the draw to see one of them go down in this round. Both have been stellar clay-court players so far, and both have won one title over the previous Astyrian Series: Amada in Nova Lisboa, Mareaux in Albergaria, as a qualifier no less. Amada is winning this tie on basis of seeding and experience; he has a year more on the tour than his fellow teen player and much more clay court experience, and has reached quite a few finals and semifinals on the clay courts. But Mareaux has shown flashes of brilliance, and in the aforementioned Albergaria final, she defeated Amada in two close sets, 7-5, 7-5. Amada, though, has come back from that defeat to win the title in Novo Lisboa without dropping a set, while Mareaux has fizzled since, winning only a few matches in the runup to the Astyrian Slam. So Amada should be winning this based off of form as well. Finally, Amada's style, of powerful forehands and a good serve to back him out, produces results and entertains the crowd as a bonus, often winning points with a stylish shot or tweener lob. It would be a shame for even one of these fine players to exit the tournament, but one must.
Winner: AmadaOmar Perez vs Estela Fenton-MillingtonOn paper, this should be an easy matchup for the 234th-ranked Fenton-Millington, a thing that you shouldn't be able to say in most circumstances. But her opponent is Omar Perez of San Jose Guayabal: unranked in the international tennis rankings. Both players have exploited an easy draw to reach this stage, the best performance for both at a Grand Slam (on Perez's first tournament, no less): Perez defeated Maya Cassington, who defeated the tour's standout player and this section's top seed, 14th seed Dagmar Lusaidh, in the first round, while Fenton-Millington defeated 31st seed and Astyrian favorite Dusan Ivanovic in the first round as well. Game-wise, not much is known about Fenton-Millington, who hasn't made it out of qualifying in the past couple of events on the NS Tennis Tour. Perez, meanwhile, has shown streaks of brilliance, and the clay court surface has shown to be a godsend for him: his powerful, spinning shots allow him to control the court from behind the baseline. This could be a close match, and the result will definitely bring a surprising player into the fourth round of the Astyrian Slam.
Winner: Perez