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Brian Swartz · 09-03-2015, 07:38 PM

2040 Wimbledon

Back for a second round but not needing to qualify this year is Girsh, while Mehul is hoping to exceed last year's third-round exit in an epic against Iglar. With virtually all of the top players spending more effort on grasscourt proficiency, he would be happy with one round further here. The task is made more difficult by the fact that the bigger servers, which he is decidedly not given my strategem of focusing more on baseline play than do most players, do particularly well on the lower bounce of the grass.

In the larger scheme of things, Wimbledon is an open question this year. Viktor Goncharenko has been generally inconsistent since getting his first title last year. He's a contender here but so are many others. Pretty much all of the top seven players in the rankings have a significant chance that I would describe as between 1-in-10 and 1-in-3 for all of them with no overwhelming favorite. My money is on Mick Elder to put together one last big run here, but any of them could be the victor.

Girish Girsh continued his string of bad luck in first-round opponents, drawing #3 David Almagro and winning just four games. He also lost in the first round of doubles qualifying, so it was definitely an unspiring week for him. As for Anil Mehul, he had a routine first-round win, an easy matchup, and then Roman Iraugui, who he had crushed in the French, was next up. Despite three dominating wins in as many matches, I still considered Iraugui more of a threat than those results indicated. Grass would be the worst surface matchup for Mehul. This time the caution proved warranted. The Frenchman took his first set off Mehul to begin, and it was only after a tough four that he advanced 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(2) to reach the third round here for the third time.

Swedish 19th-seed Manfred Borrman looked to be a similar though slightly better opponent. A match Anil should win but could lose. He had to survive tiebreakers in the first two sets, but went on to win in four once again. A pair of testy, competitive wins, but he'd made his goal of the 4th round and everything from here on was a bonus. The shoe was on the other foot against Perry Hogue. Hogue was the favorite, but not an overwhelming one. Another upset as in the French at this stage was possible. After they split the first two sets, the third went to a tiebreak and ended up being the decisive moment. It was close, but the American pulled through and went on to close it out, 6-2, 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-4. Neither played had many chances after a combined 31 aces, but Hogue had more and made more of them, and so ended a decent but unsatisfying run.

The next few rounds would see a number of five-set classics. The fourth round saw defending champ Goncharenko narrowly defeat Marcek, Gaskell stopping a comeback attempt from Prieto, Gorritepe defeating Mexican Hugo Sanchez to reach his first Slam quarterfinal in two years, and Prieto narrowly finishing off Hammerstein. Then in the quarters, Hogue over his younger countryman Gaskell 9-7 in the 5th was the main attraction with the rest of the higher seeds advancing more routinely; Goncharenko was defeated in four by Benda.

The second semifinal featured Iglar and my pick Elder. It went on longer than it should have, with the American rallying from a two-set deficit but ultimately he could not contend with the Czech player's athleticism. The first was a match that will be long remembered, between Benda and Hogue. Benda was the better player but Hogue constantly found ways to stay in it, fighting back time and time again until he was eventually defeated, 12-10 in the final set. Nearly 400 points were required to settle this, bringing up a marquee, historical championship final.

The top two players in the world, Bjorn Benda and Antonin Iglar, clashed on neutral territory -- this being neither's favorite surface -- for the first time with basically everything on the line. The winner would be the probable year-end #1, would win a Slam title for the first time off their favored surface, and would generally enhance their legacy considerably. Benda held a 6-4 lead coming in, with four wins in six matches last year, but had notably been blasted in the AO final earlier in the year. The serve was king, especially for Benda in this matchup. There was only one break in a combined 13 attempts, and he survived a pair of breakers for a straight-sets win, 7-6(5), 6-3, 7-6(5). After this it will be virtually impossible for Iglar to catch him in the rankings this year; he'd basically have to run the table the rest of the season. Benda now has four Slams to his name, more than any other active player. The epic against Hogue in the semis is almost certainly set to be the match of the year, both in terms of the match itself and it's importance. Had he lost, it would likely have been Iglar taking the upper hand.

09-03-2015, 07:38 PM	#119
Brian Swartz Grizzled Veteran Join Date: May 2006	2040 Wimbledon Back for a second round but not needing to qualify this year is Girsh, while Mehul is hoping to exceed last year's third-round exit in an epic against Iglar. With virtually all of the top players spending more effort on grasscourt proficiency, he would be happy with one round further here. The task is made more difficult by the fact that the bigger servers, which he is decidedly not given my strategem of focusing more on baseline play than do most players, do particularly well on the lower bounce of the grass. In the larger scheme of things, Wimbledon is an open question this year. Viktor Goncharenko has been generally inconsistent since getting his first title last year. He's a contender here but so are many others. Pretty much all of the top seven players in the rankings have a significant chance that I would describe as between 1-in-10 and 1-in-3 for all of them with no overwhelming favorite. My money is on Mick Elder to put together one last big run here, but any of them could be the victor. Girish Girsh continued his string of bad luck in first-round opponents, drawing #3 David Almagro and winning just four games. He also lost in the first round of doubles qualifying, so it was definitely an unspiring week for him. As for Anil Mehul, he had a routine first-round win, an easy matchup, and then Roman Iraugui, who he had crushed in the French, was next up. Despite three dominating wins in as many matches, I still considered Iraugui more of a threat than those results indicated. Grass would be the worst surface matchup for Mehul. This time the caution proved warranted. The Frenchman took his first set off Mehul to begin, and it was only after a tough four that he advanced 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(2) to reach the third round here for the third time. Swedish 19th-seed Manfred Borrman looked to be a similar though slightly better opponent. A match Anil should win but could lose. He had to survive tiebreakers in the first two sets, but went on to win in four once again. A pair of testy, competitive wins, but he'd made his goal of the 4th round and everything from here on was a bonus. The shoe was on the other foot against Perry Hogue. Hogue was the favorite, but not an overwhelming one. Another upset as in the French at this stage was possible. After they split the first two sets, the third went to a tiebreak and ended up being the decisive moment. It was close, but the American pulled through and went on to close it out, 6-2, 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-4. Neither played had many chances after a combined 31 aces, but Hogue had more and made more of them, and so ended a decent but unsatisfying run. The next few rounds would see a number of five-set classics. The fourth round saw defending champ Goncharenko narrowly defeat Marcek, Gaskell stopping a comeback attempt from Prieto, Gorritepe defeating Mexican Hugo Sanchez to reach his first Slam quarterfinal in two years, and Prieto narrowly finishing off Hammerstein. Then in the quarters, Hogue over his younger countryman Gaskell 9-7 in the 5th was the main attraction with the rest of the higher seeds advancing more routinely; Goncharenko was defeated in four by Benda. The second semifinal featured Iglar and my pick Elder. It went on longer than it should have, with the American rallying from a two-set deficit but ultimately he could not contend with the Czech player's athleticism. The first was a match that will be long remembered, between Benda and Hogue. Benda was the better player but Hogue constantly found ways to stay in it, fighting back time and time again until he was eventually defeated, 12-10 in the final set. Nearly 400 points were required to settle this, bringing up a marquee, historical championship final. The top two players in the world, Bjorn Benda and Antonin Iglar, clashed on neutral territory -- this being neither's favorite surface -- for the first time with basically everything on the line. The winner would be the probable year-end #1, would win a Slam title for the first time off their favored surface, and would generally enhance their legacy considerably. Benda held a 6-4 lead coming in, with four wins in six matches last year, but had notably been blasted in the AO final earlier in the year. The serve was king, especially for Benda in this matchup. There was only one break in a combined 13 attempts, and he survived a pair of breakers for a straight-sets win, 7-6(5), 6-3, 7-6(5). After this it will be virtually impossible for Iglar to catch him in the rankings this year; he'd basically have to run the table the rest of the season. Benda now has four Slams to his name, more than any other active player. The epic against Hogue in the semis is almost certainly set to be the match of the year, both in terms of the match itself and it's importance. Had he lost, it would likely have been Iglar taking the upper hand.