Last time Ben Shelton and Lorenzo Sonego played each other, the match went to four sets. Shelton took their quarterfinal at the Australian Open in a tiebreak, but the match ebbed and flowed throughout, a contest of two attack-first players forced to be a little more attritional than normal.

In the cool night air on Court Philippe-Chatrier, a similar thing is happening, this time in a fifth set. Sonego is a little bit better at moving in and out of the corners of a clay court than Shelton, which gives him slightly more time in defense — and the ability to hit a better shot from a defensive position as a result. Shelton’s scrambling looks a little more desperate, not because Sonego is blasting him off the court, but because he’s getting to the ball ever so slightly slower.

This is particularly apparent on one of Shelton’s favorite plays, an inside-out forehand (hit from where he would normally hit a backhand) into Sonego’s forehand corner. The Italian is balanced enough to get to the ball and produce a forehand slice that actually makes Shelton play a tricky shot, rather than just plopping back a soft, floaty ball that the American can put away easily. Carlos Alcaraz, one of the best attacking defenders in the world, is another master of the art.

Watching two players who want to play first-strike tennis figuring out how to balance flair with solidity is always compelling. That’s likely to define this deciding set, and so far, neither one of them has blinked.