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Old 05-16-2016, 04:58 PM   #355
Brian Swartz
Grizzled Veteran
 
Join Date: May 2006
2045 Roland Garros -- Second Week

The quarterfinals started off with the marquee matchup of Antonin Iglar against Gustavo Caratti. After splitting the first two sets, the next two were hard-fought but both won by the Argentian. It's Iglar's earliest exit here in the last five years. The draw didn't do him any favors, of course. Benda had the better of it, easily stomping Smitala. And then there was the bottom half, which was basically the Sri Lanka vs. Peru half. Having already dispatched one Herrera in the last round, we faced the better two this time. It could either be two of us or two of them in the semis, or maybe one of each. Mehul dropped the first two sets against Thiago, then came thundering back for a vintage display of championship heart in a 3-6, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-3 win. It was the eighth Slam quarterfinal Thiago Herrera has reached ... and he's lost all of them. Just a tough one to be on the losing end of, and he might well look at this as the match that got away above all others when his career is over. Girsh had a couple of tough sets against Marcelo, but made it through in straights.

That left the semifinals to feature the usual suspects except for Caratti. He'd lost the in Madrid and Rome to Bjorn Benda, with the German just two wins away from a 7th title here in 8 years, which would make him the oldest man ever to win a Slam. Those dreams died quickly, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. Benda was outplayed after the two close recent wins, but he made it easier by only converting 1 of 9 break chances. The second match wasn't any closer. Girsh had a bad day serving and was dispatched in straight sets, his third loss in as many matches against Mehul.

That meant somebody was going to win their first Roland Garros crown. Anil Mehul was in the final for the second year in a row, with experience as well as preparation on his side. Gustavo Caratti was a little worn out, but his athleticism easily won the day, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2. In the end, only Iglar in the quarterfinals took a set off him. The 25-year-old will probably be doing this again; he did lose 2 of 3 to Benda but it still has all the appearance that, after years of speculation, tennis has found it's new king of clay.

It's Caratti's first Slam title, the first for any member of Generation Flash for example which irks Girsh to no end. Caratti moves up to 5th in the rankings: it was just a few weeks ago that he was 10th. If he can put together some decent results the rest of the year, he may close the gap with the top four but right now it's a very distant 5th. Meanwhile, with Benda failing to defend, Girsh moves up to 3rd for the first time, and Iglar's lead at the top is less than 2000 points, just a shadow of what it was to start the year. At the other end of the specrum, Marcek is down to 9th, and he'll be sinking further. A semifinalist last year, he was bounced quite a bit earlier this year.

Coming Up ...

Only Dudwadkar will be active during the break, everybody else is just training and getting ready for Wimbledon. Anil Mehul will be looking to tie Gabriel Alastra's record of four straight titles there. Benda has given him everything he wanted to handle the last couple of years, Iglar is always a bigtime threat, Girsh will have something to say of course, and Elias Trulsen is good enough now, a grass-court specialist with an elite serve and a recent arrival to the Top 10, that he could make some noise also. I can see any of those five coming away with the title but Mehul is playing well enough that he has as good a chance as any.
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