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Brian Swartz · 09-13-2022, 07:59 PM

Paris Masters

A couple of seeds lost their first match here in the final Masters of the year, but none were particularly surprising. Cyprus #2 (12) Alketas Albanos was beaten by rising Swiss Dominic Stricker in rather routine fashion. A closer match toppling (15) Oleg Urazov was a bit more surprising. The Canadian was defeated 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (4) by Malta veteran Oscar Woodger. Both players pulling the 'upsets' here are ranked 20th or better. Ale Ballok's pipe dream of playing in the Tour Finals was officially dashed in a third-round setback to Reimann. The only surprise of any kind to make the final eight was Eddy Copperfield, who won a taut three-set battle against Bardales.

Copperfield would push Renke Cananis to a pair of tiebreaks, but the world no. 2 won both of them. Reimann over Papadias, and Polychroniadis over Weigle also took two sets only. Ben Faille's run came to a surprising end against Xanthos, 6-7 (2), 6-2, 7-6(2), in a match that could have gone either way. Apparently the French star will wait at least one more year make his big breakthrough - his year ends without a major title to show for it.

Themis Xanthos was not done, knocking out Polychroniadis in another close one in the semifinals, going to 7-5 in the third set to clinch it. The all-German second semi ended in predictable fashion, 4 & 4 to Cananis. Then Renke claimed the Paris title 6-2, 6-7(11), 6-4 ... and with it he is now #1 in the world again. Leon Polychroniadis will take the spot back in a couple weeks by less than 400 points, and then the Tour Finals will determine who owns it for the year.

Elsewhere ...

Another mixed result for Manoj Datar, making the doubles SF at a challenger in Quito while enduring a first-round loss in singles. Regardless of that, he's going back to the futures level. Sushant Srivastava backed up his previous success with another futures title, though he was out in the first round of the doubles. There was a pretty close match in the semifinals, but he's up to a career high inside the Top 600. He'll have one more event this year, and if he wins again I'll take him up a tier to the FT2 competition.

Aparna Chandrasekharan bounced back with his best amateur outing to date, making the third round in both singles and doubles, and losing quite competitively at that stage. He's still underwater overall, and his ranking of 2283rd is nothing to be excited about. But it's a second point added, and he's incrementally getting a toehold in the amateur ranks. Girish Raychaudhari lost at the quarterfinal stage in his last event. It's probably not justified, but I'm getting a bit impatient at his very slow pace of progress.

There were also a couple of Sri Lanka NewGens recently and a I gave 'em a look, but neither was worth making a change for.

09-13-2022, 07:59 PM	#1282
Brian Swartz Grizzled Veteran Join Date: May 2006	Paris Masters A couple of seeds lost their first match here in the final Masters of the year, but none were particularly surprising. Cyprus #2 (12) Alketas Albanos was beaten by rising Swiss Dominic Stricker in rather routine fashion. A closer match toppling (15) Oleg Urazov was a bit more surprising. The Canadian was defeated 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (4) by Malta veteran Oscar Woodger. Both players pulling the 'upsets' here are ranked 20th or better. Ale Ballok's pipe dream of playing in the Tour Finals was officially dashed in a third-round setback to Reimann. The only surprise of any kind to make the final eight was Eddy Copperfield, who won a taut three-set battle against Bardales. Copperfield would push Renke Cananis to a pair of tiebreaks, but the world no. 2 won both of them. Reimann over Papadias, and Polychroniadis over Weigle also took two sets only. Ben Faille's run came to a surprising end against Xanthos, 6-7 (2), 6-2, 7-6(2), in a match that could have gone either way. Apparently the French star will wait at least one more year make his big breakthrough - his year ends without a major title to show for it. Themis Xanthos was not done, knocking out Polychroniadis in another close one in the semifinals, going to 7-5 in the third set to clinch it. The all-German second semi ended in predictable fashion, 4 & 4 to Cananis. Then Renke claimed the Paris title 6-2, 6-7(11), 6-4 ... and with it he is now #1 in the world again. Leon Polychroniadis will take the spot back in a couple weeks by less than 400 points, and then the Tour Finals will determine who owns it for the year. Elsewhere ... Another mixed result for Manoj Datar, making the doubles SF at a challenger in Quito while enduring a first-round loss in singles. Regardless of that, he's going back to the futures level. Sushant Srivastava backed up his previous success with another futures title, though he was out in the first round of the doubles. There was a pretty close match in the semifinals, but he's up to a career high inside the Top 600. He'll have one more event this year, and if he wins again I'll take him up a tier to the FT2 competition. Aparna Chandrasekharan bounced back with his best amateur outing to date, making the third round in both singles and doubles, and losing quite competitively at that stage. He's still underwater overall, and his ranking of 2283rd is nothing to be excited about. But it's a second point added, and he's incrementally getting a toehold in the amateur ranks. Girish Raychaudhari lost at the quarterfinal stage in his last event. It's probably not justified, but I'm getting a bit impatient at his very slow pace of progress. There were also a couple of Sri Lanka NewGens recently and a I gave 'em a look, but neither was worth making a change for.