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Brian Swartz · 10-12-2023, 05:58 AM

The in-between weeks were ... tense.

Bucharest 250

Everything was going just fine ... until Iljia Starkov joined the draw late in the week. He was the #2 seed, Kelvin Pinder the top seed who I thought Raychaudhari could handle. There was no changing tournaments, as the other one was the Barcelona 500 and was crowded. Not only that, but Valentin Cordonie repeated there which was exactly what I didn't want to happen, as I thought he'd lose a little earlier and drop some points. He was a 11-9 third-set tiebreaker away from losing in the semis to Weltsch, which would have been much better.

Anyway, back to Bucharest; the draw wasn't kind either and matched up Girish Raychaudhari with Starkov in the semifinals. Under optimal conditions he might have a chance, but form was against him by the narrowest of margins. 20 going in, with 20.1 required for the sweet spot. Grrr. Even more annoyingly, it probably cost the match; 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 was the scoreline with Starkov winning and going on to win the title. A 160-point swing between semifinalist and champion, when we're grinding for every polnt we can get.

Argh indeed - and to make it worse I noticed that the ranking bug is affecting at least Raychaudhari and Starkov, and possibly others. So I can't even rely on getting all of the points I expect to shake out correctly, and with narrow margins right now, that really matters.

Istanbul 250

This one went better. It was a breeze until the final, third match and third win against Antoine Benth. It could well have been a loss though; 4-6, 7-6(8), 6-1. Possibly should have been a loss in that second-set tiebreak. A nice boost, but it still left Raychaudhari at 19th and not good enough for a seed in the Masters events to come. There was nothing for it though; he just had to hope for a good draw and to pull some upsets. If that doesn't happen, an early loss or skipping would mean the same thing - a bad week of training and dropping points in the push to reach 16th or better. Cordonie won another event this week, because of course he did.

10-12-2023, 05:58 AM	#1479
Brian Swartz Grizzled Veteran Join Date: May 2006	The in-between weeks were ... tense. Bucharest 250 Everything was going just fine ... until Iljia Starkov joined the draw late in the week. He was the #2 seed, Kelvin Pinder the top seed who I thought Raychaudhari could handle. There was no changing tournaments, as the other one was the Barcelona 500 and was crowded. Not only that, but Valentin Cordonie repeated there which was exactly what I didn't want to happen, as I thought he'd lose a little earlier and drop some points. He was a 11-9 third-set tiebreaker away from losing in the semis to Weltsch, which would have been much better. Anyway, back to Bucharest; the draw wasn't kind either and matched up Girish Raychaudhari with Starkov in the semifinals. Under optimal conditions he might have a chance, but form was against him by the narrowest of margins. 20 going in, with 20.1 required for the sweet spot. Grrr. Even more annoyingly, it probably cost the match; 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 was the scoreline with Starkov winning and going on to win the title. A 160-point swing between semifinalist and champion, when we're grinding for every polnt we can get. Argh indeed - and to make it worse I noticed that the ranking bug is affecting at least Raychaudhari and Starkov, and possibly others. So I can't even rely on getting all of the points I expect to shake out correctly, and with narrow margins right now, that really matters. Istanbul 250 This one went better. It was a breeze until the final, third match and third win against Antoine Benth. It could well have been a loss though; 4-6, 7-6(8), 6-1. Possibly should have been a loss in that second-set tiebreak. A nice boost, but it still left Raychaudhari at 19th and not good enough for a seed in the Masters events to come. There was nothing for it though; he just had to hope for a good draw and to pull some upsets. If that doesn't happen, an early loss or skipping would mean the same thing - a bad week of training and dropping points in the push to reach 16th or better. Cordonie won another event this week, because of course he did. Last edited by Brian Swartz : 10-12-2023 at 05:59 AM.