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Indian Wells
We got the marquee matchup this time, and top-ranked Nicolas Perez easily dismissed #2 Harald Wentz 6-1, 6-4. Perez was fresher for this one, but I really don't think it would have mattered. All reasonable doubts as to his ability to stay on top of the hill are squashed for now.
Ever the not-quite-there, Chisulo Mpakati was a straight-sets loser to Perez in the semis, while (11) Lucas Perez , the forgotten Perez, on the other side took a set from Wentz before fading. It's his 5th Masters semi, but he's still searching out that first trophy. L. Perez reversed the situation from the AO in a nearly identical draw for Amrik Kasaravalli. Once again he favorable drew de Jong, and once again he won, but this time came up short 6-4, 6-7(5), 7-5 at the next hurdle. It shouldn't have been even that close, but both players did poorly on break chances. (29) Joao Narciso also made an impression, pushing Haas hard in the fourth round and knocking out Moniotte the match before that … after needing a third-set TB to defeat household-name and 89th-ranked Jakob Nazoruk of Poland. Obviously he needs no further introduction. But survive and advance, as they say.
Sushant Chiba met his demise in brutal fashion against in-form Tobias Velilla ... who then went out quite surprisingly to Dogic. A few surprises here to be sure headlined by the lesser Perez, but also a lot of the top players acting like it. Perhaps the match of the tournament was Molyneaux over Cagide in the second round, 4-6, 7-6(9), 7-6(2), a most narrow escape for experience over youth ... for the moment. Chittoor/Guha elected to take another practice week.
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