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Brian Swartz · 07-26-2019, 06:54 PM

Paris

When last we looked there were technically seven players in the hunt for the final three spots in the Race. As play began in the final Masters of the year, and the only one contested on an indoor surface, almost nothing had changed in the last couple of weeks. The hopefuls:

Il-Sung Jung - 4205
Tim de Jong - 3990
Calisto Aviles - 3775
-----------------------
Ali Solberg - 3660
Tobias Velilla - 3525
Srba Dogic - 3340
Lucas Perez - 3110

It would take nearly a perfect storm for Jung to not make it at this point, and really all three players above the line would need some bad luck to not be in, but it's never over till it's over. L. Perez made the final of the Swiss Indoors 500 the week before (beating Kasaravalli along the way for good measure) but it figures to be too little, too late. His only chance is to take home the title.

In the first round, Amrik Kasaravalli lost to crowd favorite Clavet Moniotte, 6-2, 6-7(3), 6-4 in a battle of two of the best unseeded players in the draw. Moniotte would go to knock out Solberg, the best chance for a surprise here, in an even closer second-round match. That means that the Swede will miss the Tour Finals for the first time in four years, and after making the semis last season. Might have been his last chance to stay relevant, but Ali is going doubles like all the other vets anyways. He and Solheim are going to sail into the sunset together. Molyneaux, Balzer, and Hughes were other seeded players to wave goodbye at the first hurdle, along with Tim de Jong who leaves the door open a bit for Velilla, Dogic, and Perez with a 3-6, 6-34, 7-6(6) defeat against Alkot Hakanson. I sure wouldn't have bet Hakanson to be the longest-lasting Swedish player here, but that's how it worked out. And that trio chasing; all of them won and advanced. So there was still plenty of life left in the Race suspense heading to Round 3. Final note: Sushant Chiba gave the best player in the world one heck of a scare in a 7-6(5), 7-6(8) second-round match. Not bad for a 31-year-old who has just made the decision to go doubles himself (more on that later).

Usually the third round is the point where all the dreamers wave bye-bye. And most of them did again. Up first was Jung against Lucas Perez, who claimed the 6-2, 6-4 win to keep his hopes alive. Tobias Velilla was the next victim of Hakanson, and Srba Dogic's hopes were dashed in losing a third-set tiebreaker to Moniotte, the man who simply refuses to lose. That leaves us with L. Perez shooting the moon as the only chance for a change:

Il-Sung Jung - 4295
Tim de Jong - 4000
Calisto Aviles - 3865
-----------------------
Ali Solberg - 3670 (out/eliminated)
Tobias Velilla - 3615 (out/eliminated)
Srba Dogic - 3430 (out/eliminated)
Lucas Perez - 3290

This is as of the Paris Quarterfinal Round. So Jung is in, de Jong is in ... and Aviles is in unless Perez wins the whole thing, in which case he's 7th, de Jong is 8th, and Aviles misses out again. Oh, and defending champion John Hart lost to Mike Rhodes, close straight-set match in the third round as well. A weird battle of veterans there.

As for the quarterfinal matchups themselves, well ... yeah. Three of the top four seeds excluding Hart, but then a couple of double-digit seeds and three unseeded players. The Real Perez is Lucas's next opponent. They've never met indoors but Nicolas holds a 5-2 edge overall, having won the last five meetings. It's now six in a row as Nicolas crushed Lucas 6-2, 6-1, ending his hopes of making the field. It may well be that a year from now there will be three Argentinians in the WTF, but this year there will be just the one. Elsewhere Rhodes lost in straight-sets to the seemingly unstoppable, unflappable Hakanson who has come out of nowhere. The two underdog Frenchmen on the bottom half of the draw ran out of gas, but they kept pushing to the end. Emilien Mathou goes out to Wentz 7-5 in the third, while Moniotte gave Mpakati a competitive two-set resistance.

Three powerhouses and a swedish surprise then in the semis. Both matches were quite close. Hakanson lost a 7-5, 7-6(4) decision to Perez, and at least for now will need to be considered a much sterner threat on indoor surfaces than he previously has been. Form held in the second match as well, with a final-set tiebreak ending the run of Chisulo Mpakati and sending Harald Wentz on to the final. Unfortunately for him, it was another bad result against Nicolas Perez as once again the world no. 1 demonstrated why in a 6-4, 6-2 final to claim his 8th Masters Shield. Wentz and Mpakati strengthened their grips on their current positions though.

The field for the World Tour Finals then features a record six newcomers joining only Perez and Hart who have been there before. Perez would seem to be the clear favorite at this point, but who knows what will happen with the others?

Elsewhere ...

Another perfect Challenger in CH2 Sao Leopoldo. It was so nice of Joao Narciso to get out of the way and be ineligible this year. Nasir Chittoor takes the title as the two-seed, defeating Aleksander Boltanski(POL, 68th) 6-2, 7-6(3) in the final. Everyone else was a total pushover, including Satyagit Guha in the second round. Annoying to have them meet that early, but it's the third straight Challenger crown for Chittoor while Guha's trend of consistent success also continues. Looks like we've broken through the wall and are getting some momentum here. The doubles semifinal was a bit tense going to a super TB, but ultimately the pairing prevailed there as well.

07-26-2019, 06:54 PM	#1121
Brian Swartz Grizzled Veteran Join Date: May 2006	Paris When last we looked there were technically seven players in the hunt for the final three spots in the Race. As play began in the final Masters of the year, and the only one contested on an indoor surface, almost nothing had changed in the last couple of weeks. The hopefuls: Il-Sung Jung - 4205 Tim de Jong - 3990 Calisto Aviles - 3775 ----------------------- Ali Solberg - 3660 Tobias Velilla - 3525 Srba Dogic - 3340 Lucas Perez - 3110 It would take nearly a perfect storm for Jung to not make it at this point, and really all three players above the line would need some bad luck to not be in, but it's never over till it's over. L. Perez made the final of the Swiss Indoors 500 the week before (beating Kasaravalli along the way for good measure) but it figures to be too little, too late. His only chance is to take home the title. In the first round, Amrik Kasaravalli lost to crowd favorite Clavet Moniotte, 6-2, 6-7(3), 6-4 in a battle of two of the best unseeded players in the draw. Moniotte would go to knock out Solberg, the best chance for a surprise here, in an even closer second-round match. That means that the Swede will miss the Tour Finals for the first time in four years, and after making the semis last season. Might have been his last chance to stay relevant, but Ali is going doubles like all the other vets anyways. He and Solheim are going to sail into the sunset together. Molyneaux, Balzer, and Hughes were other seeded players to wave goodbye at the first hurdle, along with Tim de Jong who leaves the door open a bit for Velilla, Dogic, and Perez with a 3-6, 6-34, 7-6(6) defeat against Alkot Hakanson. I sure wouldn't have bet Hakanson to be the longest-lasting Swedish player here, but that's how it worked out. And that trio chasing; all of them won and advanced. So there was still plenty of life left in the Race suspense heading to Round 3. Final note: Sushant Chiba gave the best player in the world one heck of a scare in a 7-6(5), 7-6(8) second-round match. Not bad for a 31-year-old who has just made the decision to go doubles himself (more on that later). Usually the third round is the point where all the dreamers wave bye-bye. And most of them did again. Up first was Jung against Lucas Perez, who claimed the 6-2, 6-4 win to keep his hopes alive. Tobias Velilla was the next victim of Hakanson, and Srba Dogic's hopes were dashed in losing a third-set tiebreaker to Moniotte, the man who simply refuses to lose. That leaves us with L. Perez shooting the moon as the only chance for a change: Il-Sung Jung - 4295 Tim de Jong - 4000 Calisto Aviles - 3865 ----------------------- Ali Solberg - 3670 (out/eliminated) Tobias Velilla - 3615 (out/eliminated) Srba Dogic - 3430 (out/eliminated) Lucas Perez - 3290 This is as of the Paris Quarterfinal Round. So Jung is in, de Jong is in ... and Aviles is in unless Perez wins the whole thing, in which case he's 7th, de Jong is 8th, and Aviles misses out again. Oh, and defending champion John Hart lost to Mike Rhodes, close straight-set match in the third round as well. A weird battle of veterans there. As for the quarterfinal matchups themselves, well ... yeah. Three of the top four seeds excluding Hart, but then a couple of double-digit seeds and three unseeded players. The Real Perez is Lucas's next opponent. They've never met indoors but Nicolas holds a 5-2 edge overall, having won the last five meetings. It's now six in a row as Nicolas crushed Lucas 6-2, 6-1, ending his hopes of making the field. It may well be that a year from now there will be three Argentinians in the WTF, but this year there will be just the one. Elsewhere Rhodes lost in straight-sets to the seemingly unstoppable, unflappable Hakanson who has come out of nowhere. The two underdog Frenchmen on the bottom half of the draw ran out of gas, but they kept pushing to the end. Emilien Mathou goes out to Wentz 7-5 in the third, while Moniotte gave Mpakati a competitive two-set resistance. Three powerhouses and a swedish surprise then in the semis. Both matches were quite close. Hakanson lost a 7-5, 7-6(4) decision to Perez, and at least for now will need to be considered a much sterner threat on indoor surfaces than he previously has been. Form held in the second match as well, with a final-set tiebreak ending the run of Chisulo Mpakati and sending Harald Wentz on to the final. Unfortunately for him, it was another bad result against Nicolas Perez as once again the world no. 1 demonstrated why in a 6-4, 6-2 final to claim his 8th Masters Shield. Wentz and Mpakati strengthened their grips on their current positions though. The field for the World Tour Finals then features a record six newcomers joining only Perez and Hart who have been there before. Perez would seem to be the clear favorite at this point, but who knows what will happen with the others? Elsewhere ... Another perfect Challenger in CH2 Sao Leopoldo. It was so nice of Joao Narciso to get out of the way and be ineligible this year. Nasir Chittoor takes the title as the two-seed, defeating Aleksander Boltanski(POL, 68th) 6-2, 7-6(3) in the final. Everyone else was a total pushover, including Satyagit Guha in the second round. Annoying to have them meet that early, but it's the third straight Challenger crown for Chittoor while Guha's trend of consistent success also continues. Looks like we've broken through the wall and are getting some momentum here. The doubles semifinal was a bit tense going to a super TB, but ultimately the pairing prevailed there as well. Last edited by Brian Swartz : 07-26-2019 at 06:56 PM.