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Old 08-11-2015, 08:20 PM   #98
Brian Swartz
Grizzled Veteran
 
Join Date: May 2006
2040 Australian Open

Doubles was interesting: Mehul had to qualify and did so, then lost in the first round; Girsh had a better partner and actually made it to the second round. It was rather humorous to see him matched up in singles against world no. 1 Bjorn Benda to open things up: it started ok but got worse with a bagel to finish off a very predicatable straight-sets defeat. Three straight losses in Slams to start his career and probably a fourth to complete the cycle at the French, but Mehul lost 3 of his first 5 first-rounder so this really doesn't mean anything yet.

As for Anil Mehul, he cruised through the first three rounds, allowing no more than five games in any of them. Then the time came to face the music against Perry Hogue in the fourth round. Hogue had soundly beaten him in both of their previous matches, both coming last year during the best period of his career. He was now on the decline and had overplayed just a hair .... and that probably ended up being the difference as otherwhise he would still be slightly favored on hardcourt. After taking a pair of tiebreaks, Mehul played a miserable third set, lost a tiebreak in the fourth, and barely edge out the win 7-6(2), 7-6(7), 1-6, 6-7(3), 7-5. He was actually outpointed 182-179 but that was mostly due to the middle set. Just a little better on the most important points, this was a match that could have gone either way and was as much as anything a victory for being set up properly.

Pierce Gaskell was knocked out in the third round, Hammerstein overplayed as well and was eliminated in the fourth by Evgeni Topolski. The Russian no. 2 would be Mehul's foil in the quarterfinals. The head-to-head wasn't any better in this matchup, 0-3 lifetime, but they hadn't met at all last year. Two were in Slams, one in a Masters, so all on big stages. This time I thought Mehul had a small edge. He started well, but Topolski fought back. After breaking to serve out the match 5-4 in the third, it looked like it was over. He was broken back, and it went to a tiebreak. Mehul went down a minibreak twice early, but fought back himself, and Topolski cracked at 7-all. A double fault handed Mehul his fourth match point, and he took it for a 6-2, 6-4, 7-6(7) win that was more dramatic at the end than it should have been.

In the semis, it was ... guess who? That's right, the force of nature himself, Antonin Iglar. He hadn't lost a set yet, and served up a shocking breadstick to start. Mehul played better after that, but couldn't take advantage of his chances. He dropped nine of 10 break points for the match, and was done in straights 6-1, 6-4, 7-5. It was as tough as any match Iglar would have, as he downed Benda in the final who had survived five-set thrillers over Almagro(8-6 in the fifth!) and Elder(lost the first two sets in tiebreaks before rallying) to get there himself.

Iglar moved up to third, a hair behind Elder and added a second Slam trophy to his case. He simply has no peer on hardcourts right now. If he plays well, he's going to win and that's the end of it. In making the final, Benda -- who had never gone past the quarters at this, his weakest Slam -- extended his lead over the field to an astonishing 4,000 points. It's a gap that is nearly of Gorritepe proportions, and Iglar's chase has begun in earnest. The question is, can the Czech prodigy do enough on clay to significantly narrow the gap?

Mehul is now up to a new career high at 11th, and only 120 points out of 10th. Attention turns back now to the World Team Cup. The second round of group play is now under way, with Chittoor in worse shape to compete than ever ... Getting the two wins over Hogue and Topolski was huge though. Aside from not beating either one before, it's a second straight Slam semifinal, and those are exactly the kinds of matches he needs to win to have a successful year. It was the kind of quality that could see him reach the Top 5 if he can sustain it.
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