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Brian Swartz · 11-01-2016, 05:19 PM

2048 US Open

A nice start for Shyam Senepathy, who got a rare Slam win -- the fifth of his career, though he's actually never lost in the first round of a hardcourt Slam. Interesting. Anyway, Srbulovic made sure he went no further. 31-year-old Marcello Herrera was the only seeded player, at 30th, to lose on the first day. Journeyman Evgeny Bezhin from the Ukraine got him 7-5 in the 5th. In the second round, the occasionally mentioned Andres Guardado of Mexico knocked out Padilla in a match that went the distance, Moicevic taught Gabriele Guareschi(25th, age 20) a thing or two in four sets, and most surprising of all, Cestmir Marcek -- ranked 175 coming in as a qualifier -- turned back the clock with an epic 5-set win over Andre Herrera. All of the Top 20 players kept on cruising through as you'd expect.

In the third, Girsh got his first bit of opposition, taking two out of three sets to tiebreaks against McCuskey. Shreya Ujjaval found himself down 2-1 against Caminha ... and then proceeded to serve up back-to-back bagels to finish it off. I'll never understand how Ujjaval can be up and down so much within a single match. Pierce Gaskell fell flat on his face with a 6-0, 6-2, 6-1 performance against Andronikov ... with the crowd behind him. Yeesh. Just two lower-seeds won, with Jake Jolland winning the match of the round over Thiago Herrera, 6-4, 6-3, 3-6, 2-6, 6-3. He did it with his serve, 24-11 in the ace count.

So, going into the round of 16 the heavyweights were pretty much all still around and mostly looking good. Ujjaval sort of reversed his previous match, going up two sets and then needing to survive 6-4 in the 5th against Juan de los Santos. Girsh allowed just five games to Bourdet -- it's become painfully obvious that the French Revolution, tennis version, is over. Tomas Niklas had an impressive comeback against Tiosav Srbulovic, rallying from a 1-6, 3-6 deficit to take it in five, the last two by a 7-5 count. Would have been nice for him to show up earlier than an hour and a half into the match, but he got through it. Prakash Mooljee had a testy encounter as well, as he got some revenge on Janin, 6-4, 7-6(5), 7-6(2). Wasn't easy though. Jolland kept on racking up the upsets with a four-set win over Kinczllers, and then there was Anil Mehul. He fell behind two sets, came back, but ultimately couldn't overcome Khasan Zakirov. 6-3, 7-6(4), 5-7, 1-6, 6-4 was the final. Won the points count by a dozen, mostly due to the one dominant set in the fourth, but other than that it was a really close one. Three straight Slams now he's been out in the first week. That's a trend.

Elsewhere ...

The junior USO was going on at the same time. Ritwik Dudwadkar lost his first match in doubles, and had what I thought was a real opportunity in the third round of singles against familiar foe Jakob Heinen. I really think, by ratings, Dudwadkar should be a little better but he's lower in the rankings by quite a bit, and Heinen managed to take him again 6-2, 7-5. 1 of 9 on break points or it would have been closer. Sigh. Heinen would make the semifinals.

Second Week

So, back to the pro event. Six of the top eight in the quarters with Jolland the only real outlier. Girish Girsh played Ujjaval for the seventh time, and the first since he almost lost in Miami earlier this year. That's the only time he's dropped a set in six encounters. Make that seven, with a 6-2, 6-3, 6-3 shellacking here. Antonin Iglar was pushed by his countryman Niklas, but made sure the young fella knew it's not his time yet in a four-set win. Mooljee ended America's hopes by knocking out Jolland in straights, and Gustavo Caratti rallied from a set down twice in the closest match, eliminating the other long-shot, Zakirov. The pride of Uzbekistan is still getting better, and he's reached his first two Slam quarterfinals this year. Well done, Khasan.

Four of the top five in the semis, continuing the trend here of the experienced players saying, 'hold on just a minute there youngsters'. Girsh's 54th meeting with Iglar ended up being a classic. It started out with the Czech paving the way, but then fading. It all came down to that unique thing in US Open tennis; a fifth-set tiebreaker. Tied at 3-all, Girsh played a bad point and went down a minibreak. He couldn't get it back, and that was it. Iglar advances, winning 145 points to Girsh's 143. Literally a coin-flip kind of match. As for the second one, routine straight-sets win for Mooljee over Caratti, saving the only break point he faced.

Antonin Iglar was going for history, vying to be the oldest man to ever win a Slam in the final. Breaking that streak of losing eight of these in a row would be nice as well. On the other side, Mooljee had guaranteed himself the #1 ranking two matches ago. It was close for two sets, and Iglar took one from him for the first time all tournament. After that though, it was all Prakash; 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. It looks like he's starting to get his game back in shape. Second Slam title for him after the Australian earlier this year, and a fitting way to ascend to the top for the first time with his 60th win of the year.

11-01-2016, 05:19 PM	#543
Brian Swartz Grizzled Veteran Join Date: May 2006	2048 US Open A nice start for Shyam Senepathy, who got a rare Slam win -- the fifth of his career, though he's actually never lost in the first round of a hardcourt Slam. Interesting. Anyway, Srbulovic made sure he went no further. 31-year-old Marcello Herrera was the only seeded player, at 30th, to lose on the first day. Journeyman Evgeny Bezhin from the Ukraine got him 7-5 in the 5th. In the second round, the occasionally mentioned Andres Guardado of Mexico knocked out Padilla in a match that went the distance, Moicevic taught Gabriele Guareschi(25th, age 20) a thing or two in four sets, and most surprising of all, Cestmir Marcek -- ranked 175 coming in as a qualifier -- turned back the clock with an epic 5-set win over Andre Herrera. All of the Top 20 players kept on cruising through as you'd expect. In the third, Girsh got his first bit of opposition, taking two out of three sets to tiebreaks against McCuskey. Shreya Ujjaval found himself down 2-1 against Caminha ... and then proceeded to serve up back-to-back bagels to finish it off. I'll never understand how Ujjaval can be up and down so much within a single match. Pierce Gaskell fell flat on his face with a 6-0, 6-2, 6-1 performance against Andronikov ... with the crowd behind him. Yeesh. Just two lower-seeds won, with Jake Jolland winning the match of the round over Thiago Herrera, 6-4, 6-3, 3-6, 2-6, 6-3. He did it with his serve, 24-11 in the ace count. So, going into the round of 16 the heavyweights were pretty much all still around and mostly looking good. Ujjaval sort of reversed his previous match, going up two sets and then needing to survive 6-4 in the 5th against Juan de los Santos. Girsh allowed just five games to Bourdet -- it's become painfully obvious that the French Revolution, tennis version, is over. Tomas Niklas had an impressive comeback against Tiosav Srbulovic, rallying from a 1-6, 3-6 deficit to take it in five, the last two by a 7-5 count. Would have been nice for him to show up earlier than an hour and a half into the match, but he got through it. Prakash Mooljee had a testy encounter as well, as he got some revenge on Janin, 6-4, 7-6(5), 7-6(2). Wasn't easy though. Jolland kept on racking up the upsets with a four-set win over Kinczllers, and then there was Anil Mehul. He fell behind two sets, came back, but ultimately couldn't overcome Khasan Zakirov. 6-3, 7-6(4), 5-7, 1-6, 6-4 was the final. Won the points count by a dozen, mostly due to the one dominant set in the fourth, but other than that it was a really close one. Three straight Slams now he's been out in the first week. That's a trend. Elsewhere ... The junior USO was going on at the same time. Ritwik Dudwadkar lost his first match in doubles, and had what I thought was a real opportunity in the third round of singles against familiar foe Jakob Heinen. I really think, by ratings, Dudwadkar should be a little better but he's lower in the rankings by quite a bit, and Heinen managed to take him again 6-2, 7-5. 1 of 9 on break points or it would have been closer. Sigh. Heinen would make the semifinals. Second Week So, back to the pro event. Six of the top eight in the quarters with Jolland the only real outlier. Girish Girsh played Ujjaval for the seventh time, and the first since he almost lost in Miami earlier this year. That's the only time he's dropped a set in six encounters. Make that seven, with a 6-2, 6-3, 6-3 shellacking here. Antonin Iglar was pushed by his countryman Niklas, but made sure the young fella knew it's not his time yet in a four-set win. Mooljee ended America's hopes by knocking out Jolland in straights, and Gustavo Caratti rallied from a set down twice in the closest match, eliminating the other long-shot, Zakirov. The pride of Uzbekistan is still getting better, and he's reached his first two Slam quarterfinals this year. Well done, Khasan. Four of the top five in the semis, continuing the trend here of the experienced players saying, 'hold on just a minute there youngsters'. Girsh's 54th meeting with Iglar ended up being a classic. It started out with the Czech paving the way, but then fading. It all came down to that unique thing in US Open tennis; a fifth-set tiebreaker. Tied at 3-all, Girsh played a bad point and went down a minibreak. He couldn't get it back, and that was it. Iglar advances, winning 145 points to Girsh's 143. Literally a coin-flip kind of match. As for the second one, routine straight-sets win for Mooljee over Caratti, saving the only break point he faced. Antonin Iglar was going for history, vying to be the oldest man to ever win a Slam in the final. Breaking that streak of losing eight of these in a row would be nice as well. On the other side, Mooljee had guaranteed himself the #1 ranking two matches ago. It was close for two sets, and Iglar took one from him for the first time all tournament. After that though, it was all Prakash; 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. It looks like he's starting to get his game back in shape. Second Slam title for him after the Australian earlier this year, and a fitting way to ascend to the top for the first time with his 60th win of the year.