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Old 05-29-2016, 05:31 PM   #368
Brian Swartz
Grizzled Veteran
 
Join Date: May 2006
2045 US Open

Opening Rounds

There was a lot on the line here for a number of players hoping for a good end to the year, and some rather interesting things happened, not all of them expected. Shreya Ujjaval, who made the third round a year ago, had an interesting first-rounder against fellow riser Zhakirov. It went the distance, but Ujjaval pulled through 6-2, 2-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. He's now 3-1 in five-set matches for his career, with the loss coming in his first match here. Not sure that really means anything, but an important win for him nonetheless. Last year his run started with a win over Condon -- this year he was up next against the guy who beat him in the first round, Joseph Skirrow. Skirrow is a top challenger player but at 26 years old he appears to be past his peak, which was 29th in the world. They split the first two sets but Ujjaval was in control from there. His fourth visit to the third round of a Slam ended against 11th-seeded Perry Mockler, a straight-sets loss but he was competitive in all three sets. About as good as could be expected really, and a nice showing.

Condon(20th) was one of only two seeded players to lose in the first round, and he's on his way out from the upper echelons of the sport anyway. A couple of lower ones crashed out in the second, but all the top players got through. Poilblan had his hands full in tough four-set match against Andre Herrera, and Mehul met up with a young player making his Slam debut. Hugo Jurco, one of Mooljee's potential rivals and a hardcourt specialist, looked like he might end Mehul's six straight quarterfinals or better here. He led early, and had break chances often in the second set before losing 6-4, 7-5, 7-5. It's very rare to have such a close one this early in the tournament, and Jurco could well become a hardcourt force soon. He's only 21 and a half, but is already a good athlete with a reliable serve.

The Herreras provided the drama in an otherwhise by-the-books third round. Both Agustin and Thiago were stretched to the distance, with the latter needed razor-thin margins in the last two sets to escape with tiebreaks against Roger Federer. The fourth round is usually when things start to get a little more difficult. The still-young Russian Afanasy Bereznity sent T. Herrera packing in another tie-break heavy five-setter, but the real viewing was on the bottom half of the bracket where Bjorn Benda faced off against Elias Trulsen. After losing to Mehul and Girsh in the lead-up Masters, the Swede finally got his breakthrough hardcourt win in a back-and-forth match, 6-4 in the 5th. A big win for him that probably moves him into the next tier now -- he's been stuck in 9th for some months. Tough loss for Benda, a very workmanlike performance and he was objectively the better player, but only managed half of Trulsen's 24 aces and was just 6 of 19 on break points, while the Swede converted half of his chances.


Elsewhere ...

Prakash Mooljee had himself a heck of a week in Como, where he was favored and the defending champion, yet still seeded 2nd. He didn't really have a close match, another competitive at least one against Ardant in the final, but not only won singles but also claimed his first challenger doubles title coming through qualifying. A dozen matches in a single week means he has lots of time off coming.
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