Front Office Football Central - View Single Post

Brian Swartz · 08-30-2017, 07:56 PM

April/May

Word Team Cup, Round 3

Ruben Piazzola(#13, CHI) was the main attraction in an otherwhise meaningless tie against Chile. He didn't disappoint, beating Ritwik Dudwadkar in an epic opener. 7-5, 4-6, 2-6, 6-3, 7-5, and it put us behind right away. We wouldn't drop another rubber, with Mooljee taking him down in four sets later on. The other three were straight-set wipeouts. Their #2, Cortecedo, was 47th in the world at the time and is well short of being able to challenge us.

Sri Lanka 4, Chile 1, and another undefeated run through group play. Easy draw in the quarterfinals, as we'll play Mexico(26th) who is a shocking team to see at this stage for the first time ever. France/Germany is a real barnburner of a matchup and we'll have much bigger resistance against the winner of that; Spain and the United States are on the other side of the draw.

Monte Carlo

Mooljee and Fangio skipped this year's event, taking out two of the top three. Kaspar was here though, and Ritwik Dudwadkar was the 4th seed. His one WTC win a couple weeks earlier inched him just above Kronecker into 4th overall. That would prove important. On the doubles side, Mehul/Kroese got rudely railroaded by the Rhodes brothers, 2 & 2 in the quarterfinals. Yikes. Shyam Senepathy showed up and was escorted quickly away by Dick Blake, the young American star, 6-3, 6-3.

Top-10 seeds Jake Jolland and Milos Schmucker showed they weren't ready for the dirt, getting bounced before the third round could even start. Dudwadkar went up against Teng and dismissed him routinely at that stage, which saw all of the favorites advance. That put seven of the top nine seeds into the quarters, with Luc Janin an obviously worthy party-crasher. And then it happened. Mateo Kaspar lost a match for the first time this year, 6-4, 6-4 to Kronecker. For once he was outplayed in the key moments; both players had four break chances but the French legend converted only one, and saved only one. Dudwadkar got through Janin in a competitive match, and in an excellent battle Guus Dircx came through against Piazzola, 7-5 in the third.

Sigmund Kronecker figured to get one back against Dudwadkar in the semifinals. What he got was a crushing 6-3, 6-3 defeat that wasn't that close; 13 to 3 in break chances. I don't know where that came from but it's a huge win for Ritwik. On the other side, another straight-sets win for Martin Zarco over Dircx. The Spaniard's been pretty sharp here and Ritwik Dudwadkar couldn't stop him; 6-2, 7-5 was the score in the title match. Martin didn't lose a set this week, and while it'll have an asterisk by it this is his first Masters Shield. As for Dudwadkar, making the final and getting the upset over his would-be rival Kronecker gives him a nice push forward. He's now decisively staying in the Top 8, and has to set his sights higher.

Anil Mehul won a tier-2 futures in Uzbekistan a couple weeks later, but other than that everyone was off preparing for the clay season to begin in earnest.

08-30-2017, 07:56 PM	#661
Brian Swartz Grizzled Veteran Join Date: May 2006	April/May Word Team Cup, Round 3 Ruben Piazzola(#13, CHI) was the main attraction in an otherwhise meaningless tie against Chile. He didn't disappoint, beating Ritwik Dudwadkar in an epic opener. 7-5, 4-6, 2-6, 6-3, 7-5, and it put us behind right away. We wouldn't drop another rubber, with Mooljee taking him down in four sets later on. The other three were straight-set wipeouts. Their #2, Cortecedo, was 47th in the world at the time and is well short of being able to challenge us. Sri Lanka 4, Chile 1, and another undefeated run through group play. Easy draw in the quarterfinals, as we'll play Mexico(26th) who is a shocking team to see at this stage for the first time ever. France/Germany is a real barnburner of a matchup and we'll have much bigger resistance against the winner of that; Spain and the United States are on the other side of the draw. Monte Carlo Mooljee and Fangio skipped this year's event, taking out two of the top three. Kaspar was here though, and Ritwik Dudwadkar was the 4th seed. His one WTC win a couple weeks earlier inched him just above Kronecker into 4th overall. That would prove important. On the doubles side, Mehul/Kroese got rudely railroaded by the Rhodes brothers, 2 & 2 in the quarterfinals. Yikes. Shyam Senepathy showed up and was escorted quickly away by Dick Blake, the young American star, 6-3, 6-3. Top-10 seeds Jake Jolland and Milos Schmucker showed they weren't ready for the dirt, getting bounced before the third round could even start. Dudwadkar went up against Teng and dismissed him routinely at that stage, which saw all of the favorites advance. That put seven of the top nine seeds into the quarters, with Luc Janin an obviously worthy party-crasher. And then it happened. Mateo Kaspar lost a match for the first time this year, 6-4, 6-4 to Kronecker. For once he was outplayed in the key moments; both players had four break chances but the French legend converted only one, and saved only one. Dudwadkar got through Janin in a competitive match, and in an excellent battle Guus Dircx came through against Piazzola, 7-5 in the third. Sigmund Kronecker figured to get one back against Dudwadkar in the semifinals. What he got was a crushing 6-3, 6-3 defeat that wasn't that close; 13 to 3 in break chances. I don't know where that came from but it's a huge win for Ritwik. On the other side, another straight-sets win for Martin Zarco over Dircx. The Spaniard's been pretty sharp here and Ritwik Dudwadkar couldn't stop him; 6-2, 7-5 was the score in the title match. Martin didn't lose a set this week, and while it'll have an asterisk by it this is his first Masters Shield. As for Dudwadkar, making the final and getting the upset over his would-be rival Kronecker gives him a nice push forward. He's now decisively staying in the Top 8, and has to set his sights higher. Anil Mehul won a tier-2 futures in Uzbekistan a couple weeks later, but other than that everyone was off preparing for the clay season to begin in earnest. Last edited by Brian Swartz : 08-30-2017 at 07:57 PM.