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Brian Swartz · 07-05-2017, 11:29 PM

Rome Masters

Mehul/Kroese had themselves one heck of an exciting tournament, with super tiebreak after super tiebreak. After an easy first couple of rounds, they got by rising Argentinians Escavias/Disanti, the #5 duo, 10-8 in a tight finish. Then Ukranians Buynov/Bezhin, who had just upset the top seeds, took it to 11-9 before falling. #4 seeds Cordovez/Podkopayev awaited in the final, and they looked bad in the first set but rallied in a hurry. The tiebreak there went a bit further even to 12-10 ... and this time we ended up on the short end of the stick. Tough result but also fortunate to even get here the way things worked out. There's no telling what's going to happen in a super-competitive doubles tour right now. It's very exciting.

Shyam Senepathy got a wild-card here because reasons I guess, and dropped out right away to young Frenchman Xavier Dorso, 6-2, 7-5. Dorso is one of the best challenger-level players around right now and only 22 -- to some degree at least his name will be mentioned more in the years to come. Incredibly, Dudwadkar was matched up with Guardado again in his first match ... and won it in more one-sided fashion, showing last week wasn't a fluke. An easy win over Panter, an American he has been increasingly successful against over the past year, followed. Last week's finalist (6)Martin Zarco was stunned by Cirakovic in three sets, with Browne and Niklas nearly losing as well. The second round here was not friendly. Dorso knocked out Besson, and Ruben Piazzola upset the ever-foolishly overplaying Janin. A couple other seeds struggled but survived. Those who didn't were uncommon actually.

On to the third, where Browne exited to Kronecker; this isn't really much of an upset given the top German is at his best in the dirt. Sava Cirakovic is having one of those runs that he's always been capable of but never succeeded in pulling off consistently. He eliminated Santos, the #2 Spaniard, in a pair of close tiebreaks. #7 Ariel Borja also had a bad day, with Dudwadkar managing to take down yet another Top-10 foe, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4! That left both him and Piazzola as unseeded quarterfinalists. Youth is being served here a bit. Cirakovic made it three, though he's an older player.

All of them exited at that point though. Mateo Kaspar stopped Dircx in a reasonably competitive match, Piazzola was only able to pull off one quality set against Kronecker, and Dudwadkar met up with Prakash Mooljee again -- and was limited to just five games again. And Cirakovic? A pair of breadsticks against Fangio. Unexpectedly, both semifinals were actually worth watching. Kaspar had all he wanted against Sigmund Kronecker, but got through it 7-6(4), 7-6(1). Then for the third time in as many encounters this season, Gillo Fangio stopped Mooljee 6-2, 7-5. Fangio gave the #1 a real run for the title in the first set, but fell a bit short in the tiebreak and then collapsed afterwards. It's been over a year now since the Italian beat him, 11 matches in a row. That's domination.

Clay may not be his forte, but the smart money is still on Kaspar to repeat at Roland Garros, which is up next.

07-05-2017, 11:29 PM	#639
Brian Swartz Grizzled Veteran Join Date: May 2006	Rome Masters Mehul/Kroese had themselves one heck of an exciting tournament, with super tiebreak after super tiebreak. After an easy first couple of rounds, they got by rising Argentinians Escavias/Disanti, the #5 duo, 10-8 in a tight finish. Then Ukranians Buynov/Bezhin, who had just upset the top seeds, took it to 11-9 before falling. #4 seeds Cordovez/Podkopayev awaited in the final, and they looked bad in the first set but rallied in a hurry. The tiebreak there went a bit further even to 12-10 ... and this time we ended up on the short end of the stick. Tough result but also fortunate to even get here the way things worked out. There's no telling what's going to happen in a super-competitive doubles tour right now. It's very exciting. Shyam Senepathy got a wild-card here because reasons I guess, and dropped out right away to young Frenchman Xavier Dorso, 6-2, 7-5. Dorso is one of the best challenger-level players around right now and only 22 -- to some degree at least his name will be mentioned more in the years to come. Incredibly, Dudwadkar was matched up with Guardado again in his first match ... and won it in more one-sided fashion, showing last week wasn't a fluke. An easy win over Panter, an American he has been increasingly successful against over the past year, followed. Last week's finalist (6)Martin Zarco was stunned by Cirakovic in three sets, with Browne and Niklas nearly losing as well. The second round here was not friendly. Dorso knocked out Besson, and Ruben Piazzola upset the ever-foolishly overplaying Janin. A couple other seeds struggled but survived. Those who didn't were uncommon actually. On to the third, where Browne exited to Kronecker; this isn't really much of an upset given the top German is at his best in the dirt. Sava Cirakovic is having one of those runs that he's always been capable of but never succeeded in pulling off consistently. He eliminated Santos, the #2 Spaniard, in a pair of close tiebreaks. #7 Ariel Borja also had a bad day, with Dudwadkar managing to take down yet another Top-10 foe, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4! That left both him and Piazzola as unseeded quarterfinalists. Youth is being served here a bit. Cirakovic made it three, though he's an older player. All of them exited at that point though. Mateo Kaspar stopped Dircx in a reasonably competitive match, Piazzola was only able to pull off one quality set against Kronecker, and Dudwadkar met up with Prakash Mooljee again -- and was limited to just five games again. And Cirakovic? A pair of breadsticks against Fangio. Unexpectedly, both semifinals were actually worth watching. Kaspar had all he wanted against Sigmund Kronecker, but got through it 7-6(4), 7-6(1). Then for the third time in as many encounters this season, Gillo Fangio stopped Mooljee 6-2, 7-5. Fangio gave the #1 a real run for the title in the first set, but fell a bit short in the tiebreak and then collapsed afterwards. It's been over a year now since the Italian beat him, 11 matches in a row. That's domination. Clay may not be his forte, but the smart money is still on Kaspar to repeat at Roland Garros, which is up next. Last edited by Brian Swartz : 07-05-2017 at 11:29 PM.