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Old 09-07-2017, 06:54 PM   #668
Brian Swartz
Grizzled Veteran
 
Join Date: May 2006
Wimbledon 2054

Juniors came first, once again. Teaming with Argentine Isaac Roqueta, Chiba was able to progress easily through the draw. They were stopped in the final by the Edleman/Prachaub team, a basically unbeatable combo, 6-3, 6-4 -- but he'll take that result for sure! In singles, that block at the quarterfinal finally gave way. With two top players not participating, Sushant Chiba knocked aside (7) Jacek Andrejova(CZE) easily, then had a credible showing against 3rd-ranked Prachuab in the semi, losing again 6-2, 3-6, 6-2. Stanley Edleman faced more resistance here on the grass than in other tournaments, but did not lose a set and claimed another title to maintain his perfect record.

In doubles, disaster struck from Mehul/Kroese, seeded 4th now. Fading after a good start against the Spanish duo of (10) Alvelo/Algarin, they ended as upset victims ultimately. 7-6(8), 1-6, 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 in the marathon match. Increasingly dominant #1s Aspelin/Cordasic went on to claim the title. As for Shyam Senepathy, he faced a fairly unheralded but rising US foe, Stuart Pargeter, and was quickly knocked aside in straight sets at the first hurdle. (27) Matteo Zimolo had to go the distance against Jurco, but the seeds all survived their initial tests.

Two were not so lucky in the second, no. 11 Ariel Borja chief among them. Both went the distance and put up a fight before losing; his conqueror was Phillippe Besson, a recognizable name from a year or two ago for those who follow proceeding here closely. The Swiss is definitely one of the more dangerous floaters in the draw, winning here 7-5 in the 5th of a match which was tight throughout. As often happens, the really interesting stuff started up in the third round, with 32 players remaining. (19) Matthew Panter continued his strong play of late, knocking out Niklas in straight sets. Juan de los Santos was pushed by Rosenberg, but prevailed in 5, delaying that changing of the guard a bit. Prakash Mooljee succumbed to his young challenger though, in a shocker. (17) Hsuang-Tsung Teng(NZL) eventually came through 7-6(7), 7-6(10), 6-7(1), 1-6, 8-6. Any match with all those tiebreaks can go either way, but Mooljee, partly on the strength of that dominant 4th set, was much the better player here. Couldn't make it count at the business end enough times though. Prakash has consistently gotten through the early matches, which is what makes this so surprising -- after making the final here 4 of the last 5 seasons, this is the first time he's departed any Slam this early in over 7 years. One more sign of the vulnerabilities of age, and on the other side a huge win for the New Zealander who has been struggling and expected to break through for a couple years now. This will certainly help. Elsewhere, Dudwadkar progressed pretty easily, both of the top Germans, Kronecker and Espinoza, were pushed to five but advanced. Besson kept on going, knocking out (31) Vinnie Cone(USA) pretty easily -- great result for him here.

In the fourth, a couple of suprising results on the top half. Santos over Jake Jolland and Teng eliminates Andres Guardado, both interesting in their ease in straight-sets. Besson's run ended at the hands of Dircx, while 7th-ranked Martin Zarco was stopped by Czech Milos Schmucker(16th). Ritwik Dudwadkar hit his first bit of trouble, but got by Kronecker in 4. That's three straight wins for him now over the top German, a 5-3 edge in the head-to-head. It appears he's convincingly moved past that obstacle. Into the quarters then where 5 of the top 6 made it ... but the other three are 14th or lower. A good showing by the next tier here, in a Slam where the unexpected happens as often as not. I almost never say anything about Kaspar for the first half of these events, because it's usually another yawning easy ride. Santos took a whole eight games off him, justifying the confidence. Teng went five sets once more, and won once more: his latest victim is #6 Johnny Browne(USA). Tiebreaks were critical again; he won both of them in close fashion, then closed it out 6-4. The other five-setter involved #2 Gillo Fangio of Italy, who has cruised so far. Not here. Schmucker, an extreme grass specialist but a guy who has been in 'maybe he'll do something someday, but probably not' territory for years, rose up and snatched a stunning upset. 6-4, 6-4, 2-6, 6-7(8), 6-3 was the count as the upstart had to hold off a Fangio rally, and ultimately succeeded. The final quarterfinal had a ton on the line, with Dudwadkar matching up against 4th-ranked Guus Dircx(NLD). The top two players of their generation, Ritwik has nearly completing the chase-down and trails by less than 100 points in the rankings; the winner would grab that crucial 4th spot at the end of the tournament. The more proven star of the Netherlands had more firepower and ultimately showed it, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-2. Objectively he's still somewhat better, but I was still hopeful. The former Wimbledon champion frankly dominated this one after that first set though. No question Dircx deserved the win.

In the semis, Mateo Kaspar slapped aside Teng in three sets -- fantastic showing for Hsuang-tsung but he wasn't going anywhere in this one. Milos Schmucker stunned Dircx with a four-set win, making his first Slam final after having never done better than the quarterfinals before(twice, including here a year ago most recently). He also managed to give Kaspar his toughest match of the tournament -- but still went down 7-5, 6-4, 6-4. There is only one king of the hill, and the final wasn't quite as close as that score would indicate.
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