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2047 US Open
The final Slam comes with everyone in action, following a week off. The finish to the year always appears much clearer, and this is usually the last opportunity for players(looking at Mooljee here) to make a big splash.
Opening Rounds
Shyam Senepathy looked better than he has recently in a straight-sets win in the first round. Competition wasn't much but a Slam win is a Slam win -- it's just the third of his career so it's something. Elsewhere it was largely the usual first-round yawn-fest. Worth noting were 20-year-old Luc Janin getting his first seed at 31st ... that's just astonishing ... and an interesting match between low-ranking US players that went the distance, with four tiebreaks. The fifth was a bagel. No, I'm not even going to try to explain that. Naturally, the guy who bageled won the match. Last week's stunner, Jake Jolland, was the only player to knock out a seed at the first time of asking, eliminating (25)Tristan Benitez in four. Ujjaval had a tough time of it against Phillipe Besson who shows up here and there, but got through in four.
A surprising number of long matches were in store for the second round. Federer was pushed to five, and (28) Simon Davila(ESP) almost lost to an unheralded American(7-6(6) in the fifth there). Senepathy bowed out quickly to Andronikov, winning just four games. Pretty clear where he stands. Thiago Herrera, seeded 11th, was one of the big losses, a five-set match against Gineto Disanti(ARG). No, I didn't know who he was before either. Not a good sign for Herrera. Ujjaval played a familiar name, Djurdje Moicevic. An expected routine win retained only the routine aspect, as he was knocked out 7-6(5), 6-4, 6-2. A straight-sets loss in the second round is a terrible result for him at this stage.
Prakash Mooljee's first test came in the third round, where either he or Andronikov were set to have a bad day. Mooljee played well enough both on serve and return to leave little to chance, controlling the match from start to finish with a trio of 6-4 sets. Nicely done there, and he equals his best Slam result with this win. Girsh and Mehul both had routine, if competitive victories. Sava Cirakovic took a tough match over no. 9 Agustin Herrera in four sets; he's been inconsistent, but has had his moments this year. Benda's exit came at this stage as well, courtesy of the slowly rising Tomas Niklas in three close ones. Federer bowed out, and Elias Trulsen put the bow on a disappointing fall for himself with a 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 loss to no. 30 Agustin Herrera. Eeek. If that's all he's going to do, he should just go play doubles. Seriously.
For the second straight event, Girish Girsh and myself were displeased to see Mooljee waiting in the round of 16. Again it's Girsh controlling the match in a competitive straight-sets score, 6-4, 7-6(4), 6-2. It was reasonably close for a while, but he's not there yet and fails to get the fall breakthrough he needed. More on that later. Fine match between Cirakovic and Theodore Bourdet, with the Croatian getting a huge win 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 6-7(4), 7-6(6). Pulls out the final-set breaker after losing a two-set lead. Not bad. Straight sets for Mehul as well though Davide Poilblan hung with him for a while, Janin's run finally ends courtesy of Kinczllers, and the usual suspects advance in the bottom half of the draw.
Elsewhere ...
Ritwik Dudwadkar took the big step of his first tier-2 tournament this week. In Prague, he was seeded first with many of the top players in action at the junior USO, a big reason why I chose this week. As the top seed, he bashed his way to easy titles in both singles and doubles, and shot up 30 spots in the rankings as a result. A fine week for him as he seeks to improve his stock towards the end of the year.
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