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Brian Swartz · 12-02-2022, 05:29 PM

Rome Masters

You might think we would revert to form now that we're out of Spain, and everyone has two clay Masters under their belt. You would be wrong. Three unexpected quarterfinalists showed up.

- (16) Alketas Albanos came out of nowhere. He hasn't been doing anything notable in a really long time. The common thread here seems to be 'what is wrong with Jochen Weigle', who narrowly lost to Albanos in the previous round. Weigle made all three clay masters quarterfinals last year. This year, he made none of them. So much for any momentum he had coming into this year.

- (10) Johann Przalowik is not a particularly big surprise. He pushed Toni Bardales out of the way to reach this point.

- (14) Goya Banqueria is the one Spaniard who didn't have much to say in Madrid. He edged past Themis Xanthos, who is having himself a right cruddy clay season also.

Much unexpected action had preceded it, but nonetheless the quarterfinals commenced. Solitris Papadias gave a better effort than anticipated before lose to Faille 6-4, 6-4. Albanos took a set from Renke Cananis before eating back-to-back breadsticks to conclude the match. Przalowik made Leon Polychroniadis work for a 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 scoreline; he's getting dangerous it would seem. And Banqueria ... well, he wasn't done, dismissing Oleg Urazov 6-3, 6-3. Urazov is acting like the new Weigle, with QF exits in four straight masters events going back to Miami. It's always something with him.

A tight first semifinal, but Ben Faille took control in the third set to oust Cananis. Polychroniadis needed a third-set tiebreak to get rid of Banqueria, who really put on a fine show this week. It was tough sledding to get the title, but Faille prevailed 6-3, 7-6(4) for his 7th Masters. Although it hasn't been an easy clay season for him, he has two shields and a final to show for it so it does seem that he's righting the ship for the most part. It's definitely not a foregone conclusion that he repeats at the French Open though - he's not dominating like he was expected to. And there's just something about Rome for Banqueria. He has two career SFs in Masters events, and the other one was last year at this same tournament.

Elsewhere ...

Sushant Srivastava tried out his first FT1 in Portugal. He was the top seed, but ran into a couple 'better than their ranking' type floaters. Narrowly won the first match, but lost in the semifinals. It was actually a good event for him in terms of experience gained, but he's hitting enough bumps in the road that I'm not sure about him getting out of futures this year.

12-02-2022, 05:29 PM	#1333
Brian Swartz Grizzled Veteran Join Date: May 2006	Rome Masters You might think we would revert to form now that we're out of Spain, and everyone has two clay Masters under their belt. You would be wrong. Three unexpected quarterfinalists showed up. - (16) Alketas Albanos came out of nowhere. He hasn't been doing anything notable in a really long time. The common thread here seems to be 'what is wrong with Jochen Weigle', who narrowly lost to Albanos in the previous round. Weigle made all three clay masters quarterfinals last year. This year, he made none of them. So much for any momentum he had coming into this year. - (10) Johann Przalowik is not a particularly big surprise. He pushed Toni Bardales out of the way to reach this point. - (14) Goya Banqueria is the one Spaniard who didn't have much to say in Madrid. He edged past Themis Xanthos, who is having himself a right cruddy clay season also. Much unexpected action had preceded it, but nonetheless the quarterfinals commenced. Solitris Papadias gave a better effort than anticipated before lose to Faille 6-4, 6-4. Albanos took a set from Renke Cananis before eating back-to-back breadsticks to conclude the match. Przalowik made Leon Polychroniadis work for a 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 scoreline; he's getting dangerous it would seem. And Banqueria ... well, he wasn't done, dismissing Oleg Urazov 6-3, 6-3. Urazov is acting like the new Weigle, with QF exits in four straight masters events going back to Miami. It's always something with him. A tight first semifinal, but Ben Faille took control in the third set to oust Cananis. Polychroniadis needed a third-set tiebreak to get rid of Banqueria, who really put on a fine show this week. It was tough sledding to get the title, but Faille prevailed 6-3, 7-6(4) for his 7th Masters. Although it hasn't been an easy clay season for him, he has two shields and a final to show for it so it does seem that he's righting the ship for the most part. It's definitely not a foregone conclusion that he repeats at the French Open though - he's not dominating like he was expected to. And there's just something about Rome for Banqueria. He has two career SFs in Masters events, and the other one was last year at this same tournament. Elsewhere ... Sushant Srivastava tried out his first FT1 in Portugal. He was the top seed, but ran into a couple 'better than their ranking' type floaters. Narrowly won the first match, but lost in the semifinals. It was actually a good event for him in terms of experience gained, but he's hitting enough bumps in the road that I'm not sure about him getting out of futures this year.