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Canada Masters
No showing from Senepathy this week, as he lost in qualifying. 11-seeded Elias Trulsen continued his fall, the latest to get knocked out early by Tiosav Srbulovic, straight-sets in the first round. McCuskey departed in the second round, but he wasn't the big surprise. That was reserved for Zourab Andronikov, who made Anil Mehul's first match his last here, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3. The Georgian blasted 20 aces, and was a perfect 4-for-4 on break points; it was basically the best he could be expected to play. Mehul wasn't terrible, in fact you could argue he was slightly better, but fell just short. The last time he lost his first match in a Masters before this year was eight seasons ago; he's done it twice now(Madrid as well). So yeah ... not a good look. Prakash Mooljee was narrowly able to advance, ironically by the same three-set scoreline but he was the one with the comeback against Cestmir Marcek. Shouldn't have been that close, but the aging Czech was more prepared at this early stage and has always been his best on the hardcourts.
Srbulovic nabbed another pelt in the third round, taking out Bourdet. No small matter beating the world no. 6, this one in straight sets as well. Looks like he's making a serious push. There were four closely contested matches this round, and only Iglar had a glorified walk-over, losing just one game. Girsh had his first test in a pretty close against Thiago Herrera, going to 7-5 in the second set to dismiss him. Davide Poilblan rallied after a bad first set to take out Kinczllers, and Shreya Ujjaval dropped the first set in a breaker before coming back to knock out Benda. Mooljee was less fortunate, being Andronikov's next opponent. 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, another tight one and while the serve count was not as lopsided(due at least in part to Mooljee being a much faster player than Mehul at his age), the result was the same. A very tight match, evenly played, and once again the Sri Lankan competitor couldn't hang in the break points(3 of 8 compared to 4 of 6). Both of those back to back are a little hard to take, and a shot at a big quarterfinal goes by the boards for Mooljee.
Two unseeded players along with 16th-seeded Ujjaval made it to the final eight ... definitely not the usual suspects as the youth movement continues. Girsh flattened Gaskell as one might expect, Caratti dismissed Srbulovic who might have thought himself to have a chance but rather surprisingly won just eight points on the Argentine's serve. Another straight-set win by Iglar over Poilblan, and Andronikov made it three straight tight wins over Sri Lankans with a 7-6(3), 6-7(2), 6-2 win over Shreya Ujjaval, the only match in the round to go the distance. Ugh.
Top 3 ... and no. 20 for the semis. Which one of these things is not like the other ... well, it was time for order to be restored. Girish Girsh didn't have a walk but was able to take out Caratti in two long, tight sets. Iglar was pushed a bit but did the same to Andronikov, and the top two players headed to the final. Antonin Iglar looked pretty good this week and he needed this one badly ... yet failed to produce a single break chance and was trounced 6-3, 6-2. Sure looks like a statement by Girsh that his supremacy is secure from here. A 9th Masters is the most in Sri Lanka history, Mehul included(he won eight). Not bad.
I'm also interested to see how well Srbulovic and Andronikov back up their fine performances here.
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