Front Office Football Central - View Single Post

Brian Swartz · 09-02-2017, 01:27 PM

Rome

Italy finally brought a breakthrough for Mehul/Kroese, who looked quite solid all the way through. The only test came in the final; 10-6 in a super TB over Arendt/Yumashev. They'll need a lot more of this to stay up in the rankings, but it'll definitely help. Shyam Senepathy had a tough week, losing in the last qualifying round.

A bit of a twist to the fortunes of a couple of veterans in the opening set of matches; Luc Janin, fallen enough not to be seeded here, took out (13)Juan de los Santos in a match of a couple of guys far too good to be playing this early. Stefano Espinoza, the German 10th seed, is not at all like his country's top player Kronecker; clay is not his forte, and he was bounced in the second. There was a rough patch here or there, including Fangio dropping a set to one of last week's standouts Mackenzie, but all of the top players ultimately came through.

The third round was basically not worth watching. None of the matches were close, and only one 'upset': another quick exit for Browne, with Tomas Niklas showing a rare flash with a 6-2, 6-2 demolition there. He joins 7 of the top 8, sans the top American, who move on to the quarters. The Czech was crushed there by Gillo Fangio, but the other three matches were all much closer. The first one was the most noteworthy, with Kaspar suffering just his second defeat of the year thanks to Martin Zarco. Definitely the best win of the Spaniard's career, and a very tight one: 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(5). Could have gone either way, and neither play had much to show for their serve in the clutch; 10 total breaks of serve in the back-and-forth encounter. Not only had Zarco lost all 12 previous meetings, he had one just one set, none in the past three years. Definitely not the outcome that was expected, even with his clay expertise. A better showing for Ritwik Dudwadkar came to an end as he didn't have quite enough firepower to take advantage of his opportunities against Dircx, losing there in two close sets. Sigmund Kronecker lost to Mooljee in another razor-thin match, 7-4 in a third-set breaker. It was very close, but the German was actually a hair better overall, putting more consistent pressure. It all came down to the end though, and experience seemed to be the only determiner.

Big opportunity in the first semifinal for both players. Guus Dircx put up a fight but Zarco was the unsurprising winner in a close two. Prakash Mooljee dropped his fourth straight against Fangio in the second, 6-3, 7-6(5). The Italian had to go the distance, but managed a 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-2 victory in the title match, claiming his 4th Masters at Zarco's expense.

09-02-2017, 01:27 PM	#665
Brian Swartz Grizzled Veteran Join Date: May 2006	Rome Italy finally brought a breakthrough for Mehul/Kroese, who looked quite solid all the way through. The only test came in the final; 10-6 in a super TB over Arendt/Yumashev. They'll need a lot more of this to stay up in the rankings, but it'll definitely help. Shyam Senepathy had a tough week, losing in the last qualifying round. A bit of a twist to the fortunes of a couple of veterans in the opening set of matches; Luc Janin, fallen enough not to be seeded here, took out (13)Juan de los Santos in a match of a couple of guys far too good to be playing this early. Stefano Espinoza, the German 10th seed, is not at all like his country's top player Kronecker; clay is not his forte, and he was bounced in the second. There was a rough patch here or there, including Fangio dropping a set to one of last week's standouts Mackenzie, but all of the top players ultimately came through. The third round was basically not worth watching. None of the matches were close, and only one 'upset': another quick exit for Browne, with Tomas Niklas showing a rare flash with a 6-2, 6-2 demolition there. He joins 7 of the top 8, sans the top American, who move on to the quarters. The Czech was crushed there by Gillo Fangio, but the other three matches were all much closer. The first one was the most noteworthy, with Kaspar suffering just his second defeat of the year thanks to Martin Zarco. Definitely the best win of the Spaniard's career, and a very tight one: 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(5). Could have gone either way, and neither play had much to show for their serve in the clutch; 10 total breaks of serve in the back-and-forth encounter. Not only had Zarco lost all 12 previous meetings, he had one just one set, none in the past three years. Definitely not the outcome that was expected, even with his clay expertise. A better showing for Ritwik Dudwadkar came to an end as he didn't have quite enough firepower to take advantage of his opportunities against Dircx, losing there in two close sets. Sigmund Kronecker lost to Mooljee in another razor-thin match, 7-4 in a third-set breaker. It was very close, but the German was actually a hair better overall, putting more consistent pressure. It all came down to the end though, and experience seemed to be the only determiner. Big opportunity in the first semifinal for both players. Guus Dircx put up a fight but Zarco was the unsurprising winner in a close two. Prakash Mooljee dropped his fourth straight against Fangio in the second, 6-3, 7-6(5). The Italian had to go the distance, but managed a 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-2 victory in the title match, claiming his 4th Masters at Zarco's expense.