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Brian Swartz · 08-16-2019, 03:19 AM

Miami

So as noted, this one didn't go according to plan. For pretty much anyone. Let's start at the beginning here. The carnage began in the second round. A strong run of recent results by (28) Joao Narciso was ended in a brutal loss to Belgraver (55th) in which the pride of Brazil managed just four games. We'll just assume that he, ahem, enjoyed himself a bit too much the previous night. Molyneaux, Gonzoles, and de Boer all suffered a similar fate. In the third, Chiba took advantadge of one the newly-created holes in the draw to press forward. Seamus Hughes losing out to Wentz is no surprise and a credible result, while another substandard showing from (13) Clavet Moniotte ended in a tight loss to Kjaerstad. He looked so strong at the end of last season ... now seems to be slumping unfortunately. (19) Algot Hakanson knocked out Rhodes in a three-set affair, a key victory for his quest to move up a tier. (17) Amrik Kasaravalli lost to Jung in a match that appeared closer than it really was, while (5) John Hart was dumped by Vicars in a pair of tiebreaks . .. 15-13 in the first one!

Headlining the fourth round was Nicolas Perez exiting the stage to the other Perez, who had narrowly avoided being dumped out against Stachovsky in the previous round. What is it about our current #1 when he goes up against his countrymen? Almost like he feels sorry for them or something. Anyway, Sushant Chiba managed to push Mpakati to three before being handed a breadstick in the final frame. Hakanson was pushed out by (29) Odimos Csollang, and Jung managed a straight-set win over Tobias Velilla who has not been able to validate his AO title.

A reasonable top half minus N. Perez, but the bottom half were wide open for Harald Wentz. Not a single Top-10 player between him and the title match. So of course he lost immediately to Csollang, 7-6(5), 6-4, throwing the entirety of the draw into chaos. L. Perez went out to Aviles, the big chance of Chisulo Mpakati to finally get a big title went away immediately as well - third-set breaker defeat against Haas. And local favorite (22) Ross Vicars got a beat-down from Jung.

Nobody ranked higher than sixth was left for the semis. A narrow first match with Ollie Haas, the highest-ranked remaining player, losing out to Aviles 7-6(7), 7-5. 'Pipe-dream' Csollang almost got by Jung in the second match, splitting a pair of tiebreaks before losing the third set. At least there was some high-quality close matches for the spectators, even if they didn't get to see the expected titans. Calisto Aviles grabbed the first set of the final in a tiebreak, but came up short of getting his first big trophy on hardcourt as Il-Sung Jung bounces back after being shoved out of the Top 10. His second Masters, over a year after his first at the '66 Shanghai event, will elevate him back onto the first page and drop Dogic from it in the continuing carousel. Other than Perez and sometimes Wentz, everything else looks like a game of glorified Whack-A-Mole to be frank. Somebody new pops up almost every tournament, only to disappear for a while, then pop up again later.

Elsewhere ...

Entering CH2 Baranquilla was the right choice I'm convinced, but we didn't do well there. Nasir Chittoor was seeded 6th, though not ranked far behind the competition here. He's had some good practice matches of late against Norwegian Magnus Gronhag and come out on top in his share of them, but this time ended on the short end of a 7-6(5), 6-3 count in the quarterfinals. A narrow first-round doubles win for the top seeds led to a QF loss as well, and Satyagit Guha made it through qualifying only to lose to American Tim Gudsell, who is definitely a superior singles performer. Been a while since we had one of those but we definitely got our medicine here, and it shows that while Chittoor does well in weak fields, he still isn't ready to take on the Challenger elite and consistently beat them. Trainer Anil Mehul gets some extra work here minimizing the damage from the early defeats. Meanwhile, somewhat ironically, it was in fact Gudsell and Gronhag who made it to the title match against each other.

It'll be curious to see the shuffling that happens tomorrow, when - if I'm not too lazy to do it - the next ratings supplement is due out.

08-16-2019, 03:19 AM	#1150
Brian Swartz Grizzled Veteran Join Date: May 2006	Miami So as noted, this one didn't go according to plan. For pretty much anyone. Let's start at the beginning here. The carnage began in the second round. A strong run of recent results by (28) Joao Narciso was ended in a brutal loss to Belgraver (55th) in which the pride of Brazil managed just four games. We'll just assume that he, ahem, enjoyed himself a bit too much the previous night. Molyneaux, Gonzoles, and de Boer all suffered a similar fate. In the third, Chiba took advantadge of one the newly-created holes in the draw to press forward. Seamus Hughes losing out to Wentz is no surprise and a credible result, while another substandard showing from (13) Clavet Moniotte ended in a tight loss to Kjaerstad. He looked so strong at the end of last season ... now seems to be slumping unfortunately. (19) Algot Hakanson knocked out Rhodes in a three-set affair, a key victory for his quest to move up a tier. (17) Amrik Kasaravalli lost to Jung in a match that appeared closer than it really was, while (5) John Hart was dumped by Vicars in a pair of tiebreaks . .. 15-13 in the first one! Headlining the fourth round was Nicolas Perez exiting the stage to the other Perez, who had narrowly avoided being dumped out against Stachovsky in the previous round. What is it about our current #1 when he goes up against his countrymen? Almost like he feels sorry for them or something. Anyway, Sushant Chiba managed to push Mpakati to three before being handed a breadstick in the final frame. Hakanson was pushed out by (29) Odimos Csollang, and Jung managed a straight-set win over Tobias Velilla who has not been able to validate his AO title. A reasonable top half minus N. Perez, but the bottom half were wide open for Harald Wentz. Not a single Top-10 player between him and the title match. So of course he lost immediately to Csollang, 7-6(5), 6-4, throwing the entirety of the draw into chaos. L. Perez went out to Aviles, the big chance of Chisulo Mpakati to finally get a big title went away immediately as well - third-set breaker defeat against Haas. And local favorite (22) Ross Vicars got a beat-down from Jung. Nobody ranked higher than sixth was left for the semis. A narrow first match with Ollie Haas, the highest-ranked remaining player, losing out to Aviles 7-6(7), 7-5. 'Pipe-dream' Csollang almost got by Jung in the second match, splitting a pair of tiebreaks before losing the third set. At least there was some high-quality close matches for the spectators, even if they didn't get to see the expected titans. Calisto Aviles grabbed the first set of the final in a tiebreak, but came up short of getting his first big trophy on hardcourt as Il-Sung Jung bounces back after being shoved out of the Top 10. His second Masters, over a year after his first at the '66 Shanghai event, will elevate him back onto the first page and drop Dogic from it in the continuing carousel. Other than Perez and sometimes Wentz, everything else looks like a game of glorified Whack-A-Mole to be frank. Somebody new pops up almost every tournament, only to disappear for a while, then pop up again later. Elsewhere ... Entering CH2 Baranquilla was the right choice I'm convinced, but we didn't do well there. Nasir Chittoor was seeded 6th, though not ranked far behind the competition here. He's had some good practice matches of late against Norwegian Magnus Gronhag and come out on top in his share of them, but this time ended on the short end of a 7-6(5), 6-3 count in the quarterfinals. A narrow first-round doubles win for the top seeds led to a QF loss as well, and Satyagit Guha made it through qualifying only to lose to American Tim Gudsell, who is definitely a superior singles performer. Been a while since we had one of those but we definitely got our medicine here, and it shows that while Chittoor does well in weak fields, he still isn't ready to take on the Challenger elite and consistently beat them. Trainer Anil Mehul gets some extra work here minimizing the damage from the early defeats. Meanwhile, somewhat ironically, it was in fact Gudsell and Gronhag who made it to the title match against each other. It'll be curious to see the shuffling that happens tomorrow, when - if I'm not too lazy to do it - the next ratings supplement is due out. Last edited by Brian Swartz : 08-16-2019 at 03:27 AM.