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Brian Swartz · 10-14-2019, 06:47 AM

Madrid

When in Spain, beware of the Spaniards. Calisto Aviles winning his third Masters shield, second in a row here, is not particularly huge news. But few would have predicted his opponent in the final match to be Mike Rhodes, 31-year-old has-been … and at this level, virtually a never-was as this was his first ever masters final, having made the RG championship match once. But that was four years ago, a lifetime in tennis. Rhodes had slipped to 22nd in the rankings and appeared on his way out of the elite ranks, no shame for one his age. But he got a new lease on life here. To reach the final, he edged Nicolas Perez in a 9-7 third-set TB, very representative of how close that match was. For Perez, it's a big step down from the dominance he showed at Monte Carlo, but hardly a disaster. On the other side, Harald Wentz went three with Aviles and you can't blame that result either.

I should catch up on doubles before going through the rest of the results. Hughes/Hart take yet another trophy but still haven't surpassed Godinic in the rankings. They needed a super-tiebreak to get by (6) Arquiliere/Gravier in the final. Chiba/Guha had to qualify, something they really should be past doing soon, and then proceeded to lose to one of the more dangerous floater teams, Fantoni/Aubry, in a competitive 6-4, 7-5 decision right away. Not what I was hoping for after the strong showings in Miami and MC.

Ok so back to singles, where Chisulo Mpakati is simply a cursed man beyond belief. Won the first set against N. Perez 6-2, then lost tiebreaks in the next two sets. If you had to pick a winner on match stats you'd take him by the narrowest of margins (one more return point won on same number of chances, +2 in breaks) but it was a case of controlling the one set and then being a little inferior in the others. How many times can he keep doing this though? The law of averages would indicate he deserves a couple more upsets than he's had already just this year. Lucas Perez took a tiebreak before falling meekly the next two sets to Wentz, while Il-Sung Jung was opportunistic enough to give Aviles a real run for his money. And then there was the veteran Constantino Gonzoles, who lost to Rhodes and got to the QFs at my expense, flipping the script on Nasir Chittoor in a one-sided 6-3, 6-3 third-rounder. That one stung, because Nasir had just gotten done blasting aside the #3 player in the world, Tobias Velilla, in what was at that point the upset of the tournament. I thought he had a path to the quarters, maybe even the semis, the way he was going. And then … *thud*. It's still a good result to reach the last 16 of Masters … but it could have been much more.

Also leaving in the third round were Clavet Moniotte (3 sets to Mpakati) and Amrik Kasaravalli (2 tough sets against Jung). Earlier departures from Mark Smith (well done pushing home-favorite Cagide to three), Joao Narciso (two breadsticks served up in a punishing display by Haas), Ross Vicars (another Rhodes victim), Sushant Chiba (qualified but de Jong eliminated him), Algot Hakanson (brushed aside by de Boer), and Tommy Fitzpatrick (Rhodes' first victim).

10-14-2019, 06:47 AM	#1223
Brian Swartz Grizzled Veteran Join Date: May 2006	Madrid When in Spain, beware of the Spaniards. Calisto Aviles winning his third Masters shield, second in a row here, is not particularly huge news. But few would have predicted his opponent in the final match to be Mike Rhodes, 31-year-old has-been … and at this level, virtually a never-was as this was his first ever masters final, having made the RG championship match once. But that was four years ago, a lifetime in tennis. Rhodes had slipped to 22nd in the rankings and appeared on his way out of the elite ranks, no shame for one his age. But he got a new lease on life here. To reach the final, he edged Nicolas Perez in a 9-7 third-set TB, very representative of how close that match was. For Perez, it's a big step down from the dominance he showed at Monte Carlo, but hardly a disaster. On the other side, Harald Wentz went three with Aviles and you can't blame that result either. I should catch up on doubles before going through the rest of the results. Hughes/Hart take yet another trophy but still haven't surpassed Godinic in the rankings. They needed a super-tiebreak to get by (6) Arquiliere/Gravier in the final. Chiba/Guha had to qualify, something they really should be past doing soon, and then proceeded to lose to one of the more dangerous floater teams, Fantoni/Aubry, in a competitive 6-4, 7-5 decision right away. Not what I was hoping for after the strong showings in Miami and MC. Ok so back to singles, where Chisulo Mpakati is simply a cursed man beyond belief. Won the first set against N. Perez 6-2, then lost tiebreaks in the next two sets. If you had to pick a winner on match stats you'd take him by the narrowest of margins (one more return point won on same number of chances, +2 in breaks) but it was a case of controlling the one set and then being a little inferior in the others. How many times can he keep doing this though? The law of averages would indicate he deserves a couple more upsets than he's had already just this year. Lucas Perez took a tiebreak before falling meekly the next two sets to Wentz, while Il-Sung Jung was opportunistic enough to give Aviles a real run for his money. And then there was the veteran Constantino Gonzoles, who lost to Rhodes and got to the QFs at my expense, flipping the script on Nasir Chittoor in a one-sided 6-3, 6-3 third-rounder. That one stung, because Nasir had just gotten done blasting aside the #3 player in the world, Tobias Velilla, in what was at that point the upset of the tournament. I thought he had a path to the quarters, maybe even the semis, the way he was going. And then … thud. It's still a good result to reach the last 16 of Masters … but it could have been much more. Also leaving in the third round were Clavet Moniotte (3 sets to Mpakati) and Amrik Kasaravalli (2 tough sets against Jung). Earlier departures from Mark Smith (well done pushing home-favorite Cagide to three), Joao Narciso (two breadsticks served up in a punishing display by Haas), Ross Vicars (another Rhodes victim), Sushant Chiba (qualified but de Jong eliminated him), Algot Hakanson (brushed aside by de Boer), and Tommy Fitzpatrick (Rhodes' first victim).