View Single Post
Old 12-31-2017, 08:12 AM   #747
Brian Swartz
Grizzled Veteran
 
Join Date: May 2006
September/October

World Team Cup Quarterfinals

#13 Chile was next up for us, indoors. #6 Ruben Piazzola was the main opposition here. Both of his rubbers went the distance, as did the doubles, in a topsy-turvy tie. Piazzola beat Prakash Mooljee on Tuesday, 6-7(8), 6-4, 6-7(5), 7-6(8), 6-2, as Mooljee seemed to finally run out of gas at the end in an otherwhise epic match. That tied things up at 1-all. Mehul/Suksma rallied from two sets down to win the doubles, including a bagel in the final set, to give us the lead. Then Ritwik Dudwadkar offered up two bagel sets to Piazzola ... but lost the third and fourth sets in tiebreaks, making things more interesting than they should have been. Still, the main difference here was that the Chilean no. 2 singles player was 37th-ranked Damian Cortecedo, who could offer us no significant resistance. We win 4-1, though it could easily have been 3-2.

World Team Cup Semifinals

Next up we moved into top competition against the United States, on clay. The choice of surface gives us the advantage, as the US #2, world no. 13 Dick Blake, is a weak player on the dirt. He started off by losing easily to Dudwadkar and giving us the lead. Prakash Mooljee lost to Matthew Panter, 4-6, 7-5, 7-6(4), 6-4, and we were no match for the doubles team of Browne/Srbulovic. Down 2-1, we straight-setted both players in return singles matches. Ritwik Dudwadkar was first up to even things against Panter(just six games surrendered), and after that it was a simple matter for Mooljee over Blake on Friday. 3-2 we pulled it out; I think the Americans would probably have taken us had it been a hardcourt.

It's #1 vs. #2 in the final against Spain(though we have a huge points lead). Either they repeat or we take back our title. Hardcourts are best for us in that matchup, and it's another one where a weak second singles player should be enough for us to win 3-2. Third-ranked Martin Zarco figures to beat Mooljee but not Dudwadkar who has owned him this year, and we'll assuredly lose in doubles.

Elsewhere ...

Prakash Mooljee tried to get in some matches at the Open de Moselle(250). It didn't go as planned, with a second-round exit to Cone, 6-3, 6-3. Sushant Chiba, having played three Challengers in four weeks, was off for the entire six weeks between the USO and Shanghai to practice. One challenger for Anil Mehul, a tier-3 in Tulsa, and he did respectably by making the semifinals, though he was trounced there by Russian 2nd-seed Efim Golubev, winning just a single game.
Brian Swartz is online now   Reply With Quote