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Brian Swartz · 09-17-2019, 06:45 AM

Paris

This tournament came down to an epic first-round match for doubles duo Guha/Chiba, who after qualifying outlasted their first obstacle 7-6(5), 6-7(7), 12-10. It doesn't get much closer than that, and this being a masters it was worth 80 points. They were quickly dismissed in the next round, while Hughes/Hart made the semifinals here. #1s Godinic/Kaspar clearly demonstrated themselves to be the class of the field though, easily defeating all comers.

If three is a trend, then we now officially have a trend of world no. 2 Harald Wentz winning big events. The home masters was kind to Clavet Moniotte, who had never made it past the final eight at any major event before but came within a whisker of the title here. It was only after some high, tense drama that Wentz prevailed, 15-13 in a final-set tiebreak! Third-ranked Tobias Velilla was Moniotte's semifinal victim, while another surprise on the other side came in the form of 11th-seeded Odimos Csollang, his second masters semi of the year. Got crushed by Wentz 6-1, 6-3, but still a great showing and it moves the highest-ranked member of the younger generation back into the Top 10. Quite possibly for good this time.

Algot Hakanson, Jung, Mpakati, and Fabio Cagide are the quarterfinal losers this time. Hakanson was responsible for knocking out #1 Nicolas Perez in the third round - the first time in pushing three years that Perez has lost early in consecutive events. In '67 he made at least the QF of everything, but this year he's failed to make that stage in four different masters. Nicolas is still the best player in the world, but the aura of inevitability to his reign is definitely showing cracks sooner than I anticipated. Other third-round losers were qualifier Seamus Hughes and Amrik Kasaravalli, who lost out to Mpakati after battling his way past Stachovsky in a third-set TB the previous round. It's better than he did last year in Paris, but his stay on the first page ends abruptly after a single week. He did well … others just did better.

John Hart (l. N. Perez), Lucas Perez (l. Rhodes??), Helmut Edlund (qualified, l. Wentz), Sushant Chiba (l. de Jong), Calisto Aviles (l. Hughes? in two tiebreaks), Ollie Haas (l. Vicars) … it's a long list of notables going out in the second round. No real surprises in the first, but there were some heavy-hitters who left the field early, helping give opportunity to that quartet of double-digit-seeded quarterfinalists who seized the opportunity. After a generally rough year, Moniotte is the biggest news-maker here followed closely by Hakanson's upset.

Elsewhere …

Seeing no reason to fight with Fitzpatrick when there's plenty of events, Nasir Chittoor won CH2 Sao Leopoldo for the second straight year. Third-seeded Rene Martinet of Switzerland made things more interesting than they had any right to be in a 7-5, 6-3 semifinal, but other than that it was a royal cruise. He's got one more event coming in a couple of weeks.

09-17-2019, 06:45 AM	#1192
Brian Swartz Grizzled Veteran Join Date: May 2006	Paris This tournament came down to an epic first-round match for doubles duo Guha/Chiba, who after qualifying outlasted their first obstacle 7-6(5), 6-7(7), 12-10. It doesn't get much closer than that, and this being a masters it was worth 80 points. They were quickly dismissed in the next round, while Hughes/Hart made the semifinals here. #1s Godinic/Kaspar clearly demonstrated themselves to be the class of the field though, easily defeating all comers. If three is a trend, then we now officially have a trend of world no. 2 Harald Wentz winning big events. The home masters was kind to Clavet Moniotte, who had never made it past the final eight at any major event before but came within a whisker of the title here. It was only after some high, tense drama that Wentz prevailed, 15-13 in a final-set tiebreak! Third-ranked Tobias Velilla was Moniotte's semifinal victim, while another surprise on the other side came in the form of 11th-seeded Odimos Csollang, his second masters semi of the year. Got crushed by Wentz 6-1, 6-3, but still a great showing and it moves the highest-ranked member of the younger generation back into the Top 10. Quite possibly for good this time. Algot Hakanson, Jung, Mpakati, and Fabio Cagide are the quarterfinal losers this time. Hakanson was responsible for knocking out #1 Nicolas Perez in the third round - the first time in pushing three years that Perez has lost early in consecutive events. In '67 he made at least the QF of everything, but this year he's failed to make that stage in four different masters. Nicolas is still the best player in the world, but the aura of inevitability to his reign is definitely showing cracks sooner than I anticipated. Other third-round losers were qualifier Seamus Hughes and Amrik Kasaravalli, who lost out to Mpakati after battling his way past Stachovsky in a third-set TB the previous round. It's better than he did last year in Paris, but his stay on the first page ends abruptly after a single week. He did well … others just did better. John Hart (l. N. Perez), Lucas Perez (l. Rhodes??), Helmut Edlund (qualified, l. Wentz), Sushant Chiba (l. de Jong), Calisto Aviles (l. Hughes? in two tiebreaks), Ollie Haas (l. Vicars) … it's a long list of notables going out in the second round. No real surprises in the first, but there were some heavy-hitters who left the field early, helping give opportunity to that quartet of double-digit-seeded quarterfinalists who seized the opportunity. After a generally rough year, Moniotte is the biggest news-maker here followed closely by Hakanson's upset. Elsewhere … Seeing no reason to fight with Fitzpatrick when there's plenty of events, Nasir Chittoor won CH2 Sao Leopoldo for the second straight year. Third-seeded Rene Martinet of Switzerland made things more interesting than they had any right to be in a 7-5, 6-3 semifinal, but other than that it was a royal cruise. He's got one more event coming in a couple of weeks.