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2038 WTC -- Level 3 Quarterfinals
The matchup with Canada figured to be another romp for Sri Lanka. Their best singles player, Joshua Tepest, is barely a Top 200 guy and i thought maybe at best he might be able to upset Chittoor, but we'd still get at least three wins minimum from the other singles matches. The one surprise was the selection of Chittoor/Nilima as the doubles team. Mehul is actually only the third-highest ranking doubles player -- barely, literally one spot below Nilima -- but for him to have more rest from match play to focus on his singles career is really a blessing at this point for him personally. Not so much for the nation but it's only a small handicap.
Monday: A. Mehul d. P. Baudoin, 6-2, 6-0, 6-1
Tuesday: A. Chittoor d. J. Tepest, 6-4, 6-1, 6-0
Wednesday: A. Chittoor/P. Nilima d. M. Foy/P. Baudoin, 6-3, 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3
Thursday: A. Mehul d. J. Tepest, 6-0, 6-1, 6-3
Friday: A. Chittoor d. P. Baudoin, 6-1, 6-0, 6-1
A 5-0 blanking as Sri Lanka moves on to the semifinals, confirming our place in the promotion playoffs at the end of the year! There was plenty of drama in the doubles match, which the Canadians lost via 19 double faults and only 8 of 25 BP converted more than we won it. The singles matches were all dominated. Sri Lanka is up another 5 spots to 50th in the world rankings.
Next up is Austria, who defeated Romania 4-1 for their part and is the top competition. On paper, they have a very similar lineup to ours. Everyone will need to be at their best. In order for that to happen, Mehul needs to get at least a couple more matches in, so he'll be in St. Petersburg for a 250-level event next week with the semis coming up the week after that. Everyone else has the week off for training.
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