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Brian Swartz · 09-25-2022, 12:16 AM

Australian Open: Early Rounds

The first round of the first Slam was clean for the seeded players. All 32 of them. The biggest news was who was not here. Another mess-up by the Cypriots, as #3 Themis Xanthos and #11 Alketas Albanos did not enter. Not a screw-up was the fact that #5 Alexander Reimann has chosen to forego singles entirely and play only doubles. That means that Ballok is effectively now the world no. 8, and everyone shifts up a spot.

But the second round was decidedly different. It's time to meet some new names:

- Daniel Long (IRE) defeated (16) Dominic Stricker (SUI), in a case of one rising young player defeating a better - or at least higher-ranked - rising young player. 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(3), 3-6, 6-4. A fine match that went the distance.

- Davide de Laurentis (DEU) provided another example of the same idea, eliminating (17) Goya Banqueria in straight sets. These are not marginal seeds going down, but players firmly established among the elite.

- Johann Przalowik (DEU), another German and the latest prize pupil of pavlicker, had a tough four-set win with the last two sets going to tiebreakers. His opponent/victim was (25) Santino Consiglio of Italy.

- Dechang An (CHN) is a more marginal example, 24 and a little closer to peak, doesn't even have a human manager, but still managed to take down (28) Morten Efjlersgaard (DNM) in four sets.

- Ventura Lentini (ITA), 25, eliminated yet another up-and-comer, (23) Jerome Kim (SUI), 4-6, 6-4, 6-1, 7-6(7). Definitely a pattern here. Some of young guns need ... seasoning it seems. And infighting among them.

- Lucio Maydon (USA) completes the rundown, knocking out (32) Luigi Cannonica of Italy. A four-set match in which Maydon won two close tiebreakers. This is probably the weirdest - the American is a 28-year-old well past his best tennis.

That's a lot of unexpected third-round faces. Ignaci Saravia tried to do his upset thing at that stage, but Urazov outlasted him in five sets. Przalwik claimed another victim, (11) Vinnie Goodbody. Two in a row is not a fluke. Same for Lentini, who rallied past (14) Mahjab Thabet (THA) , 2-6, 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-4, 6-3! The others though, fell meekly. There were still more upsets that occurred in other matchups, however. (13) Boris Hollinger fell to (30) Matias Aldecoa (ESP), while (24 George Voronets continued his progress, eliminating favored punching bag and 8th-seed Copperfield, 7-5, 6-4, 7-6(5).

Those last two winners met in the fourth round, ensuring there would be at least one surprise name in the second week. Again it was Voronets in straight sets. Andre Mexicano made a bid to scratch (6) Solitris Papadias, but the Greek no. 2 survived in five sets. After all the chaos, the top seven seeds all make it through - once again the surprises happening in the lower levels. To put a finer point on it, Papadias was the only player among the seven to even lose a set in the fourth round. The hierarchy is clear.

Elsewhere ...

My hopes for a continued quick rise with Sushant Srivastava were dashed when surprisingly strong futures fields were present and he lost in the quarterfinals of an event in India. One more futures trophy may be enough to put him above Sankait and participate in the WTC ... but that will have to wait now until at least after the second round. He's still at a level of ability that is vulnerable to the luck of the draw.

Aparna Chandrasekharan lost in the first round of singles, second round of doubles in his latest amateur event, gaining no points and continuing the work of improving. Girish Raychaudhari had his best event to date as is expected with an entire year's worth of juniors graduating to the pro tier. In Tokyo, he was the victor in doubles and made it the final of singles before succumbing to fatigue and an opponent who should be playing at a higher tier. Now we'll see if Raychaudhari can string together a series of similar results. Also, in unexpected news, a doubles partnership was offered by Adrian Wannemaker (SUI). Nothing will likely come of this unless by accident for the next couple of years. Wannemaker, half a year younger, could provide an interesting doubles teammate when the final junior year arrives. He's a promising low-aging-factor youth like my player is, so it could be a good fit.

09-25-2022, 12:16 AM	#1291
Brian Swartz Grizzled Veteran Join Date: May 2006	Australian Open: Early Rounds The first round of the first Slam was clean for the seeded players. All 32 of them. The biggest news was who was not here. Another mess-up by the Cypriots, as #3 Themis Xanthos and #11 Alketas Albanos did not enter. Not a screw-up was the fact that #5 Alexander Reimann has chosen to forego singles entirely and play only doubles. That means that Ballok is effectively now the world no. 8, and everyone shifts up a spot. But the second round was decidedly different. It's time to meet some new names: - Daniel Long (IRE) defeated (16) Dominic Stricker (SUI), in a case of one rising young player defeating a better - or at least higher-ranked - rising young player. 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(3), 3-6, 6-4. A fine match that went the distance. - Davide de Laurentis (DEU) provided another example of the same idea, eliminating (17) Goya Banqueria in straight sets. These are not marginal seeds going down, but players firmly established among the elite. - Johann Przalowik (DEU), another German and the latest prize pupil of pavlicker, had a tough four-set win with the last two sets going to tiebreakers. His opponent/victim was (25) Santino Consiglio of Italy. - Dechang An (CHN) is a more marginal example, 24 and a little closer to peak, doesn't even have a human manager, but still managed to take down (28) Morten Efjlersgaard (DNM) in four sets. - Ventura Lentini (ITA), 25, eliminated yet another up-and-comer, (23) Jerome Kim (SUI), 4-6, 6-4, 6-1, 7-6(7). Definitely a pattern here. Some of young guns need ... seasoning it seems. And infighting among them. - Lucio Maydon (USA) completes the rundown, knocking out (32) Luigi Cannonica of Italy. A four-set match in which Maydon won two close tiebreakers. This is probably the weirdest - the American is a 28-year-old well past his best tennis. That's a lot of unexpected third-round faces. Ignaci Saravia tried to do his upset thing at that stage, but Urazov outlasted him in five sets. Przalwik claimed another victim, (11) Vinnie Goodbody. Two in a row is not a fluke. Same for Lentini, who rallied past (14) Mahjab Thabet (THA) , 2-6, 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-4, 6-3! The others though, fell meekly. There were still more upsets that occurred in other matchups, however. (13) Boris Hollinger fell to (30) Matias Aldecoa (ESP), while (24 George Voronets continued his progress, eliminating favored punching bag and 8th-seed Copperfield, 7-5, 6-4, 7-6(5). Those last two winners met in the fourth round, ensuring there would be at least one surprise name in the second week. Again it was Voronets in straight sets. Andre Mexicano made a bid to scratch (6) Solitris Papadias, but the Greek no. 2 survived in five sets. After all the chaos, the top seven seeds all make it through - once again the surprises happening in the lower levels. To put a finer point on it, Papadias was the only player among the seven to even lose a set in the fourth round. The hierarchy is clear. Elsewhere ... My hopes for a continued quick rise with Sushant Srivastava were dashed when surprisingly strong futures fields were present and he lost in the quarterfinals of an event in India. One more futures trophy may be enough to put him above Sankait and participate in the WTC ... but that will have to wait now until at least after the second round. He's still at a level of ability that is vulnerable to the luck of the draw. Aparna Chandrasekharan lost in the first round of singles, second round of doubles in his latest amateur event, gaining no points and continuing the work of improving. Girish Raychaudhari had his best event to date as is expected with an entire year's worth of juniors graduating to the pro tier. In Tokyo, he was the victor in doubles and made it the final of singles before succumbing to fatigue and an opponent who should be playing at a higher tier. Now we'll see if Raychaudhari can string together a series of similar results. Also, in unexpected news, a doubles partnership was offered by Adrian Wannemaker (SUI). Nothing will likely come of this unless by accident for the next couple of years. Wannemaker, half a year younger, could provide an interesting doubles teammate when the final junior year arrives. He's a promising low-aging-factor youth like my player is, so it could be a good fit. Last edited by Brian Swartz : 09-25-2022 at 12:20 AM.