[Brian Swartz]

2052 Australian Open

Anil Mehul skipped the singles draw; he may play the big events from time to time if he needs the matches, but it's doubles-only for him in terms of the focus. As far as that goes Mehul/Kroese lost two sets but in different matches, outlasting 2-seeds Yumashev/Arendt in the quarterfinals and going on to claim their first Slam title as a pair!! That's another first for Anil, no other Sri Lankan has ever won a Slam doubles crown. It moves them up to being the #5 team in the world, and they should reach #3 soon. The top two teams, Trulsen/Gaskell and Yumashev/Arendt, are further ahead but the way things are going I wouldn't be surprised to see these two reach the pinnacle. That'd really be something, and it's definitely a nice boost to Mehul in his effort to work towards being a trainer to get the xp from these big-time doubles matches. He's sort of got a second career going on here.

Meanwhile all four Sri Lanka entrants cruised through their first-round matches, including Ritwik Dudwadkar who had a kind draw against one of the worst direct entries. Still, it's first win here. That's not nothing. In the second round, he faced #14 Martin Zarco, and on hardcourt I figured him to be able to play him about even. Zarco's more athletic, technical skills fairly even, but he's not much of a hardcourt player. Ritwik took the first set easily but came up just short afterwards, 2-6, 7-5, 6-4, 7-5. Missed opportunity a bit here, it would have been his best win by a long shot as he's never won against a Top 30 player. Very few opportunities so far at least as well. Still has the 'not quite there yet' vibe. Shyam Senapathy had arguably his best Slam ever, pushing 18-seed Milos Schmucker to a tough four sets in the second round as well. All the top seeds yawned their way through, including Mooljee and Ujjaval our two remaining competitors.

Zopp and #27 Manee Paschal, definitely on the rise after a title last week, had one of the best matches of the tournament in the third round. Paschal came up short 7-5 in the 5th but he's on his way. No real major upsets yet, with Shreya Ujjaval losing in four to Borja, and Guus Dircx learning a bit of a lesson in a somewhat early defeat to Cojanovic. In the fourth round, Tomas Niklas showed once again that he's past it, dropping a tight straight-sets match to Zopp. Borja had an upset that really wasn't against #7 Juan de los Santos, and Fangio was the first of the contenders to be challenged; he went the distance against Phillippe Besson, but the Swiss faded badly, taking only four games in the last two sets combined.

The quarterfinals brought the top six plus Borja(12th) and Zopp(15th) to the party. Kaspar dismissed the Finn with the loss of just eight games. First matchup of contenders went to Johnny Browne over Janin, 7-6(5), 7-6(5), 4-6, 7-6(6). The Canadian has to be shaking his head after that one, he was right there in every set. Mooljee had a third-set lapse but otherwhise cruised very easily over Khasan Zakirov. Fangio once again rallied, knocking out Ariel Borja in four after losing the first.

So, top four on to the semis. Another victory for the rankings. Browne pushed Mateo Kaspar to his first tiebreak ... then won one whole game after losing it. Ouch. Fangio pulled off a third straight comeback over Prakash Mooljee, 3-6, 6-4, 7-5, 6-4. Mooljee's 3 of 17 line on break points was the story here, as he was the more consistent player. It's hard to get too broken up about it though; the Italian's greatest strength is his mental game. If he can keep it close, you're usually in trouble, and that's exactly what happened here. Mooljee still leads the H2H 11-4, but he's lost the last two. So that's officially a trend ...

Kaspar swatted Gillo Fangio aside, to the surprise of precisely nobody. Didn't lose a set all tournament, was never challenged in any match, and looked supremely unworried by anything. Every time he goes out the match is on his racket and he knows it. Third Slam title. The real test for him is what happens in the spring on clay and grass. That's where he's potentially not immune.

Browne moves up to #3 ahead of Fango, Dudwadkar gets a bit of a bump and not much. Mooljee is still secure at #2 for now. Last year he won the Miami Masters, but he's probably still fairly safe until RG. If he doesn't defend there, chances are he falls further.

Elsewhere ...

Sushant Chiba won in doubles and made the final at tier-4 Auckland, losing to a guy who is ranked well into the Top 100 juniors so it's no shame. He's losing consistently to Top 200 guys in practice, so he looks over-ranked and it'll definitely be a steady diet of tier-4 events until he starts having more success. Right where he should be at this point, and working steadily on that baseline game. Everyone's gotten in a good run of matches to start the year, and they'll all have roughly a month off. Time to get some good training in, aside from next week's WTC clash with Spain.