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Canada Masters
The tour is back in action after a bit of a break, and the summer hardcourt swing commences.
(15) Oleg Urazov had a hitch in his progression, losing in the first round after taking the opening set against Ignaci Saravia. Saravia just seems to enjoy that spoiler role. Copperfield had a second-round scare, but managed to rally this time against another dangerous floater, Czech Jonas Stanya.
Then in the third round, a bigger name went down. 13th seed Raul Ramirez (MEX) is a name we are hearing more often recently; this time he eliminated Solitris Papadias is a match as epic as three-setters come: 7-6(11), 6-7(6), 7-5. That made Ramirez the one player in the quarterfinals who wasn't expected to be there, and he gave Reimann a battle but still lost in straight sets. Ramirez has a ways to go to catch any of the players in front of him, but it looks like he's making consistent steps in that direction.
Leon Polychroniadis was pushed by Bardales but made it through, Jochen Weigle continued his disappointing year by surrendering meekly to Xanthos, and the match of the round was Cananis-Faille. Ben Faille dominated the first set, then was outplayed more closely in the next two to lose 2-6, 6-4, 6-4. It had all the appearance of an encounter where the more experienced player beat the newcomer even though he was arguably outplayed on the whole.
Themis Xanthos had a real tight match in the semifinal, but became the latest to derail the Polychroniadis train, 7-6(4), 7-6(5). It's become increasingly clear that the rumors of the Greek's ascendance have been somewhat exaggerated. He was underprepared for this tournament and paid for it - he's not good enough to just walk in and claim victory, except perhaps on clay. In an all-German second semi, Cananis extended his record against Alexander Reimann to 24-7 with a three-set triumph. It's eight straight and 15 out of the last 16, and with the players still heading in opposite directions I don't see that changing anytime soon. Early on in their careers it was pretty even, but the last real competition between them was back-to-back matchups at Roland Garros and Wimbledon two years ago. Reimann won in 5 on the clay; Cananis returned the favor on the grass, 8-6 in the decider. Both were semifinal matchups so they were definitely crucial encounters. And since then, it's been the younger player who has been superior.
In the final, Xanthos sought his first Canada title, while Renke Cananis was in the final for the third year in a row. Two years ago, the same players met in the championship match, with Xanthos taking the first set and Cananis winning by controlling the tiebreaks in the second and third. The Cypriot didn't face a single break point in that one, and was slightly better overall, but still lost. And he'd gotten the better of Cananis in the Indian Wells final earlier this year, so there was no writing him off.
This time it was another battle royale, but the German got the upper hand with a pair of 7-6(5) sets. It could have gone either way. Cananis isn't legendary as a mental fortress for nothing. I'd say it's the only reason he holds an 11-5 edge in this head-to-head. And now he's approaching striking distance for the #1 spot, less than two thousand points behind Leon Polychroniadis. The questions are mounting.
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