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Monte Carlo
Iglar wisely took the week off, but all the rest of the top players were here at the annual 'not-quite-a-masters'. That was just enough of an opening to get Mooljee seeded. Senepathy didn't make it through qualifying, so there were just the four of us. Shreya Ujjaval smashed a qualifier in the first round, and Mooljee did the same. Girsh cruised through his second-round match, while Mehul had a bit of a test from the rising Srbulovic but won in two. I was, however, fairly disgusted to see Prakash Mooljee blow an early lead and fall to the pride of Uzbekistan, Khasan Zakirov, 5-7, 6-3, 6-3. He's lost all three times they've met on clay so I guess I shouldn't be that surprised ... but I still think he should have won this. A number of other seeds departed early as always happens on clay, with Kinczllers, victimized by John Condon, the most notable as he came in 4th in the draw.
In the third round, I was rather stunned to see Ujjaval easily send Gaskell packing ... he's moving up in the world again. The rest was all pretty much as expected. The quarterfinals featured three players from Sri Lanka ... on clay, not the best surface for some of us. That's quite an achievement. Ujjaval was knocked out by Girish Girsh, not at all a surprise; Mehul won another close one against Bourdet, just on a different surface than a month ago; and on the bottom of the bracket it was Caratti and Benda moving through. As usual.
The 19th meeting between Girsh and Mehul was a bit of a surprise; recently turned 31, Anil still has a few tricks left and pulled a 6-4, 6-7(4), 7-6(2) upset. Caratti required a third-set tiebreak against Bjorn Benda, who is seemingly revitalized by this tournament back on his favorite surface.
Anil Mehul managed to make a good match of it in the final, but the expected result ensued and Gustavo Caratti claimed his third Masters shield.
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