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Old 03-15-2017, 02:34 PM   #588
Brian Swartz
Grizzled Veteran
 
Join Date: May 2006
Indian Wells Masters

Another quick exit for Tristan Benitez who continues to crash and burn, down several spots already from the start of the year. Anil Mehul, seeded 30th, suffered the indignity of losing his first match in the second round against Jonathon Ardant of France, 7-6(3), 6-7(2), 6-2. The top Spaniards didn't do well, with Zarco and Padilla upset in their first encounters, but Adergazoz Lugassy managed a three-set 'upset' of Herrera to give them some compensation. Shyam Senepathy left quickly in the first round against McCuskey, also not a surprise.

The third pretty went according to form. There were a couple of interesting matches that went the distance. Phillipe Besson(15, SUI) over Ruslan Strelkov(28, RUS), and Johnny Browne(5) outlasting Ariel Borja(22) in an All-American contrast of styles. Girish Girsh had another tussle with Zakirov in the 4th round and lost a narrow 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 decision. Besson was matched against the weak link Juan de los Santos, and once again beat him easily.

On to the quarterfinals then with the top seven plus the Swede, easily the surprise player of the year so far. Mooljee took care of Khasan Zakirov without much trouble, and in fact all four matches were completed in straight sets though Fangio had himself a time with Browne, 7-5, 7-6(6). Luc Janin had an upset that really wasn't, 6-3, 6-2 in an easy one over Tomas Niklas. Certainly looks like Janin is on the right track at the moment, another big win for him.

In the first semi, Prakash Mooljee had a shot at Mateo Kaspar and was the better-serving, more consistent player. He also went 0-for-8 on break points and didn't score a point in the opening tiebreaker, losing a close 7-6(0), 7-6(5) decision to the rising French star who is still unbeaten this year. A rough match as this is exactly the kind he needs to win. Janin outlasted Gillo Fangio in three in the second ... I expect the two of them to run into each other a lot the way things are going.

Kaspar was in control the whole way in the final, and notched his second Masters, moving up just past Niklas to #2 in the rankings as well. No indication anyone can stop him at this point.


Elsewhere ...

Ritwik Dudwadkar did the usual deal and entered a challenger during the first week of IW, tier-2 in Kyoto. He had a time with top-seeded Miroslav Derda in the semifinals, but rallied to win in three sets and later claimed his first title of the year and second overall challenger, this being the larger of the two. It's enough to break him into the Top 100, probably to stay.
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