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Year 101 Roland Garros: Championship Week
Playing the part of patsy in the quarterfinals was Jochen Weigle, who won seven total games against Cananis. Color me unsurprised at this point. The other three matches were at least competitive though. Goya Banqueria went away in straight sets against Faille, but it wasn't a wipeout; Ene Caballero took a set from Polychroniadis, and there was one upset of sorts with Themis Xanthos going out to Bardales, 7-6(6), 7-5, 6-3. Just got worn down it seemed.
Toni Bardales couldn't keep it going in the semis though, competitive straight-sets against Polychroniadis. The other semifinal was much closer, with Renke Cananis eventually failing to unseat defending champion Ben Faille. Cananis rallied from two sets down to force five, but couldn't finish. The final between Faille and Leon Polychroniadis was even closer, arguably a classic. Finals scoreline was 6-7(7), 6-3, 4-6, 6-1, 8-6, a surprisingly difficult title defense although ultimately a successful one for the world no. 1. Without a favorable crowd, it seems the outcome of this tournament would have been much different. Polychroniadis secures his #2 position more, the Spaniards definitely showed up with three of the final eight players and Bardales into the semis, and Faille - despite his relative struggles - has won five Slams in a row now. He still doesn't look like he's playing his best though.
Elsewhere ...
In a stunning development, Aparna Chandrasekharan had a breakout performance reaching the final in a futures event in Tianjin, China. Previously he'd made a quarterfinal once and never beyond that. We'll have to wait and see if this is a sign of things to come or just an aberration, but it will definitely help his chances of avoiding slipping back down to the amateur level.
I somehow forgot to enter Girish Raychaudhari in a practice event, so he had to take a bunch of mostly bad friendly matches. Bad manager, no development. Every time I lose a close match with him, I'll look back at weeks like this and wonder if not making this kind of mistake might have made a difference. But I try to leave myself room for the occasional mulligan without getting too upset.
Rankings update coming soon.
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