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Brian Swartz · 11-12-2015, 01:18 AM

Paris Masters
The Rest of the Story ...

Round of 16

As I left off yesterday, it was the third round about to commence. Mehul had a lazy service game to force a tiebreak against Blanco, but game through in straight sets. Girsh got off to a great start against Gaskell, but he's pretty match-worn at this point and it showed as the determined American fought back for a 1-6, 6-3, 6-1 final. No shame in losing to a more prepared, desperate 10th-ranked player in three, that's for certain. He'll be in the teens after this and probably drop down to the low 20s by the end of the year, pretty darn good considering the slump. It's nearly two months off for him now, until WTC group play opens after the first of the year. He was 38-18 on the year, the tougher competition showing in the fact that he'd never lost more than 13 matches previously. The long break might be just want he needs to enter the next season roaring. I can only hope.

So with Gaskell advancing that increased the pressure on the other two. I expected them both to win, but Marcek was fairly stunning knocked off by Groeneveldt with a breadstick no less in the decisive set, and that put Hammerstein in the driver's seat if he won. He did so, a competitive straight-sets win over Prieto. That meant if the Austrian upset Benda in the quarters, or if Gaskell didn't win the tournament, he was in. Really good odds those, but not certain yet.

Quarterfinals

Mehul was up against Hogue here, and beat him soundly although he lost a tight second set to extend it to three. Gaskell still wouldn't give up, taking down Alvarez 4 & 4, with Benda putting away Hammerstein by the same score. As a result, the Race was not yet over; Gaskell could still pull off the miracle if he won the title. It was all on his racket.

Semifinals

Both matches were of interest to me with those developments in mind. Gaskell had the monstrous task of trying to beat Iglar to keep his hopes alive, and he played a heck of a first but still lost in a tiebreak. Clearly he broke mentally at that point, meekly surrendering 7-6(4), 6-0. A fine run, but he comes up short.

Mehul then was up against Benda, looking for a fourth straight win against him with the H2H tied at 5-all going in. He was the better player, out-acing one of the game's elite servers 19-9, requiring the German to play 17 more points on his serve, taking the points total 102-98. And still losing, 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-4. This was not like the Alvarez match last week; Anil played pretty well. He had more break chances as well(7-2), but didn't save either as both players broke twice and the world no. 2 took the vital middle-set breaker. A bitter pill to swallow, it was really Benda's championship experience and nothing else that allowed him to steal this one; it keeps Mehul that much further away, preventing him from making further gains in the rankings this week.

And so that was that.

Final

Competitive straight sets for Iglar. Naturally. This one is worth noting as it's his 10th Masters Shield, tying him for 10th all-time. He'll doubtless be moving considerably up that list by the end of next year.

11-12-2015, 01:18 AM	#186
Brian Swartz Grizzled Veteran Join Date: May 2006	Paris Masters The Rest of the Story ... Round of 16 As I left off yesterday, it was the third round about to commence. Mehul had a lazy service game to force a tiebreak against Blanco, but game through in straight sets. Girsh got off to a great start against Gaskell, but he's pretty match-worn at this point and it showed as the determined American fought back for a 1-6, 6-3, 6-1 final. No shame in losing to a more prepared, desperate 10th-ranked player in three, that's for certain. He'll be in the teens after this and probably drop down to the low 20s by the end of the year, pretty darn good considering the slump. It's nearly two months off for him now, until WTC group play opens after the first of the year. He was 38-18 on the year, the tougher competition showing in the fact that he'd never lost more than 13 matches previously. The long break might be just want he needs to enter the next season roaring. I can only hope. So with Gaskell advancing that increased the pressure on the other two. I expected them both to win, but Marcek was fairly stunning knocked off by Groeneveldt with a breadstick no less in the decisive set, and that put Hammerstein in the driver's seat if he won. He did so, a competitive straight-sets win over Prieto. That meant if the Austrian upset Benda in the quarters, or if Gaskell didn't win the tournament, he was in. Really good odds those, but not certain yet. Quarterfinals Mehul was up against Hogue here, and beat him soundly although he lost a tight second set to extend it to three. Gaskell still wouldn't give up, taking down Alvarez 4 & 4, with Benda putting away Hammerstein by the same score. As a result, the Race was not yet over; Gaskell could still pull off the miracle if he won the title. It was all on his racket. Semifinals Both matches were of interest to me with those developments in mind. Gaskell had the monstrous task of trying to beat Iglar to keep his hopes alive, and he played a heck of a first but still lost in a tiebreak. Clearly he broke mentally at that point, meekly surrendering 7-6(4), 6-0. A fine run, but he comes up short. Mehul then was up against Benda, looking for a fourth straight win against him with the H2H tied at 5-all going in. He was the better player, out-acing one of the game's elite servers 19-9, requiring the German to play 17 more points on his serve, taking the points total 102-98. And still losing, 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-4. This was not like the Alvarez match last week; Anil played pretty well. He had more break chances as well(7-2), but didn't save either as both players broke twice and the world no. 2 took the vital middle-set breaker. A bitter pill to swallow, it was really Benda's championship experience and nothing else that allowed him to steal this one; it keeps Mehul that much further away, preventing him from making further gains in the rankings this week. And so that was that. Final Competitive straight sets for Iglar. Naturally. This one is worth noting as it's his 10th Masters Shield, tying him for 10th all-time. He'll doubtless be moving considerably up that list by the end of next year.