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Old 09-11-2017, 12:46 AM   #675
Brian Swartz
Grizzled Veteran
 
Join Date: May 2006
Cincinatti

Mehul/Kroese had another good run, and this time the draw was a bit better. It took another close super TB to get past Srbulovic/Zopp, this time 10-5 and a round later in the semis. That put them in the title match, where the #1s once again were solidly better. Good couple of weeks though, and they are back up to the 4th spot in the rankings. It was deja vu all over again for Senepathy, who beat another qualifier for the second week in a row, then lost to a highly-ranked player(Zarco this time). He keeps plugging away.

It wasn't all roses for the seeds but most of them survived round one, though Niklas and Piazzola were both pushed hard with a pair of tiebreaks for each. Milos Schmucker(10th) was absolutely crushed by Vinnie Cone, 6-1, 6-2 -- not a shocking result but the margin sure was. He was the only early casualty. (13)Juan de los Santos left the next day, as Rosenberg backed up his run last week with another good start. He kept it going by taking out Browne 6-4, 7-6(5) in the third round. This is becoming a trend now -- we're going to have a keep a close eye on him. Guus Dircx left early, a 7-6(5), 7-6(3) loser to Jolland, while Dudwadkar rallied to get past Ruben Piazzola, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4. It's his first win in four tries against the Chilean; he's a more accomplished player but it's still nice to finally get the victory. Martin Zarco lost badly to Teng in a match that was an upset only by ranking, given their respective hardcourt abilities.

Mostly the usual suspects in the QFs, though Valentin Rosenberg's return visit as an unseeded player was the bigger story. This time he ran into the Kaspar buzzsaw a little earlier. All of the other matches went the full three sets. Jolland, the lone remaining American, was knocked out by Sigmund Kronecker, Fangio had another disappointing ending with Hsuang-tsung Teng progressing a little too easily against him, and the last matchup was an all-Sri Lanka affair. In a tight final set, Ritwik Dudwadkar beat Mooljee for the second straight time and third overall against six defeats, 3-6, 6-1, 7-5. You'll win a lot of matches converting 100% of your break points, and Ritwik was 5-for-5 here in what was overall a very even match.

Kronecker gave Mateo Kaspar one tough set, an 8-6 breaker, then folded like an accordion in the second. Dudwadkar left all of his clutch play in the previous round unfortunately, losing a match he should have won 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-3. He had the most consistent pressure by a good margin, but Teng consistently found a way to salvage things, surrendering just one break. Once again Kaspar faced an upstart challenger in the final, and once again he dominated -- five games the count against him this time. Only the first stanza in the semis was even a challenge, and he wins again unblemished in terms of sets.
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