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Old 07-28-2016, 09:12 AM   #444
Brian Swartz
Grizzled Veteran
 
Join Date: May 2006
Paris Masters
Early Rounds

All of the seeded players get first-round byes here, so none of the WTF hopefuls were in action. Shreya Ujjaval and Prakash Mooljee got through their first matches in straight sets, but both are so worn out by now that they aren't going far. This is actually a good thing here, as it's their last event of the year and means they'll be set up for a good offseason of training over the next two months.

The second round got the all of the top players in action, but none of them against each other. It was just a matter of avoiding upsets before things really started to heat up. It wasn't easy for some of them. Agustin Herrera rallied from a set down against Robert Martin, last week's surprise winner, 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 to keep his long-shot chances alive. Kinczllers, who is already in, was nearly stunned by Zourab Andronikov and only advanced by virtue of a razor-thin margin in a third-set tiebreak. The only real 'upset' came when Elias Trulsen lost badly, 6-1, 6-2 to qualifier Andre Herrera. With this defeat, he was eliminated from contention as, for now, Theodore Bourdet grabbed the final spot with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Sava Cirakovic.

Thiago Herrera was now the best-positioned to mount a challenge, and six players still remained in contention for the last two spots. They'd all have to make at least the semifinals to overcome Bourdet, however, and that's assuming he doesn't make it that far.
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