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Brian Swartz · 11-24-2022, 01:22 PM

Indian Wells Masters

The early rounds were the picture of form holding virtually. All top eight seeds made the quarterfinals, and the only outlier - and it's not really one - was Alketas Albanos continuing his decline with American (30) Colin Tupper doing the honors. With that backdrop, it was of course completely expected to see Ben Faille continuing to cruise through all opposition .... by losing to Bardales in the quarterfinals 6-4, 1-6, 7-6(2). Wait. Is that a misprint? No, it is not. After 20 straight wins to start the season, this is one of the biggest upsets I've seen in a long while. I have no explanation beyond 'stuff happens'.

Oleg Urazov seized the opportunity given. He edged past Xanthos in a tight third-set tiebreaker, then dismissed Bardales in the semifinals routinely to make his first Masters final. On the bottom half of the draw, it was turn-back-the-clock time. Renke Cananis and Leon Polychroniadis both were pushed, but both managed to advance against Weigle and Papadias. Their semifinal was a very competitive one, Polychroniadis eventually coming through 6-3, 6-7(4), 7-5, and he went on to score a deceptive 6-4, 6-4 win over Urazov to add a 13th Masters shield, equalling Cananis' career total. I say deceptive, because Urazov actually was the overall better player on the day. Points were almost even, but the Canadian won 33% of his return points compared to 28% for the Greek. The difference was in the break chances; 0 of 3 for Urazov, 2 of 3 for Polychroniadis, one in each set. He moves back up to the #2 spot in the rankings as a result.

Elsewhere ...

It's been a couple months since the AO; here's what my players have been up to. Sushant Srivastava claimed a couple of singles wins in China, one FT3 due to their not being a good selection of tournaments, and the other a FT2. Aparna Chandrasekharan hilariously won in doubles his last time out, but otherwise has only one second-round singles showing out of several events. Girish Raychaudhari added another JG4 title in Asuncion a couple of weeks ago. He is still struggling some with fatigue at the end of those tournaments, but not enough for any serious setbacks.

After Miami we'll take a bit more of a look at the outlook for the next few months.

11-24-2022, 01:22 PM	#1328
Brian Swartz Grizzled Veteran Join Date: May 2006	Indian Wells Masters The early rounds were the picture of form holding virtually. All top eight seeds made the quarterfinals, and the only outlier - and it's not really one - was Alketas Albanos continuing his decline with American (30) Colin Tupper doing the honors. With that backdrop, it was of course completely expected to see Ben Faille continuing to cruise through all opposition .... by losing to Bardales in the quarterfinals 6-4, 1-6, 7-6(2). Wait. Is that a misprint? No, it is not. After 20 straight wins to start the season, this is one of the biggest upsets I've seen in a long while. I have no explanation beyond 'stuff happens'. Oleg Urazov seized the opportunity given. He edged past Xanthos in a tight third-set tiebreaker, then dismissed Bardales in the semifinals routinely to make his first Masters final. On the bottom half of the draw, it was turn-back-the-clock time. Renke Cananis and Leon Polychroniadis both were pushed, but both managed to advance against Weigle and Papadias. Their semifinal was a very competitive one, Polychroniadis eventually coming through 6-3, 6-7(4), 7-5, and he went on to score a deceptive 6-4, 6-4 win over Urazov to add a 13th Masters shield, equalling Cananis' career total. I say deceptive, because Urazov actually was the overall better player on the day. Points were almost even, but the Canadian won 33% of his return points compared to 28% for the Greek. The difference was in the break chances; 0 of 3 for Urazov, 2 of 3 for Polychroniadis, one in each set. He moves back up to the #2 spot in the rankings as a result. Elsewhere ... It's been a couple months since the AO; here's what my players have been up to. Sushant Srivastava claimed a couple of singles wins in China, one FT3 due to their not being a good selection of tournaments, and the other a FT2. Aparna Chandrasekharan hilariously won in doubles his last time out, but otherwise has only one second-round singles showing out of several events. Girish Raychaudhari added another JG4 title in Asuncion a couple of weeks ago. He is still struggling some with fatigue at the end of those tournaments, but not enough for any serious setbacks. After Miami we'll take a bit more of a look at the outlook for the next few months.