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Brian Swartz · 04-05-2019, 02:51 AM

US Open

WTF hopefuls Stachovsky and Rhodes crashed out in the third round, basically proving Christy right and me wrong :P. Good call there. It looks like the Top 8 are going to stay who they are through the end of the year, though there's lots still to play. In fact, that group all made it to the quarterfinals. And then things got interesting.

Hart over countryman Seamus Hughes in a competitive but routine straight-sets affair; we've seen that movie before. Wimbledon was the only time in the last two years it's been a different result. Defending champ Molyneaux was down two sets to Isa Solheim, and then it was choke time. That would have been huge for the Dane who was already making his first appearance ever in the second week here. Just his third Slam QF ever, but he couldn't finish. Then it was Meikeljohn outlasting Nicolas Perez in the afore-mentioned catastrophe of BPs for the rising Argentine star. Perez actually does have average mentality, but Meikeljohn is very good in that category. Still, this is one of the more significant miscarriages of justice I've seen. The better player by a significant margin did not win on this day. I think speed has a lot to do with this result as well. The nigh-unaceable world no. 2 won that exchange 20-6, and that plays into the results on key points also. Makes him even tougher than the mental stats would suggest.

And then there was Sushant Chiba, going up against Ali Solberg. Could easily have lost in the previous round, where Chiba beat Srba Dogic, a semifinalist last year who he'd lost to recently, in four sets. It started off well, up a set and on serve midway through the 2nd set. And then Sushant remembered that he wasn't who he used to be. His serve went to shambles, and so did the match. A one-sided third set and a quick break to start the 4th had him all but dead. He attempted to rally at the end, staving off two match points with the Swede serving for the match and getting a break point of his own to get back on serve and try to force a 5th ... but from deuce Solberg finished off the match with back-to-back aces. 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4. And the overall numbers were not close at all. 44 to 24 in terms of return points won. After that first set and a half it was domination. Chiba waves goodbye to the top contenders.

In the semis, the expected coronation of John Hart, looking for the career grand slam, was once again derailed. Molyneaux shockingly straight-setted him, with two close tiebreaks. Clearly the partisan crowd was the difference-maker. The second one was an epic, Meikeljohn defeating Solberg 7-5 in the 5th of a match that could have gone to either player. In the final, he crushed the hopes of the Flushing Meadows faithful. The pride of India, Brian Meikeljohn has now won the last two Slam titles with a 7-5, 6-4, 7-6(1) decision, a year after being dismissed in round two if you can believe that. Pushed to five in the previous two rounds, this has to have Perez spitting fire at what could have been.

There'll be a big shakeup in the Top 10 when we look at the rankings, but the bottom line is that Chiba continues plummeting, Stachovsky and Rhodes are pretenders ... and Meikeljohn takes a big step closer to being a serious rival to Hart for the #1 spot. He's still got a long ways to go to close that gap, but this makes it SF or better at 10 of the 13 big events currently in his rankings. One of the outliers is the Australian Open, so if he starts next year off well we could potentially have a real fight on our hands at the top.

ETA: I'm kind of reaching for drama there a bit. Meikeljohn is aging faster than Hart, and it's a real long-shot that he ever truly gets close to #1. But when you've had the same guy on top for over two years, you look for what possibilities there are, and back-to-back Slams isn't nothing. NVM that he should have lost at least once along the way

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04-05-2019, 02:51 AM	#952
Brian Swartz Grizzled Veteran Join Date: May 2006	US Open WTF hopefuls Stachovsky and Rhodes crashed out in the third round, basically proving Christy right and me wrong :P. Good call there. It looks like the Top 8 are going to stay who they are through the end of the year, though there's lots still to play. In fact, that group all made it to the quarterfinals. And then things got interesting. Hart over countryman Seamus Hughes in a competitive but routine straight-sets affair; we've seen that movie before. Wimbledon was the only time in the last two years it's been a different result. Defending champ Molyneaux was down two sets to Isa Solheim, and then it was choke time. That would have been huge for the Dane who was already making his first appearance ever in the second week here. Just his third Slam QF ever, but he couldn't finish. Then it was Meikeljohn outlasting Nicolas Perez in the afore-mentioned catastrophe of BPs for the rising Argentine star. Perez actually does have average mentality, but Meikeljohn is very good in that category. Still, this is one of the more significant miscarriages of justice I've seen. The better player by a significant margin did not win on this day. I think speed has a lot to do with this result as well. The nigh-unaceable world no. 2 won that exchange 20-6, and that plays into the results on key points also. Makes him even tougher than the mental stats would suggest. And then there was Sushant Chiba, going up against Ali Solberg. Could easily have lost in the previous round, where Chiba beat Srba Dogic, a semifinalist last year who he'd lost to recently, in four sets. It started off well, up a set and on serve midway through the 2nd set. And then Sushant remembered that he wasn't who he used to be. His serve went to shambles, and so did the match. A one-sided third set and a quick break to start the 4th had him all but dead. He attempted to rally at the end, staving off two match points with the Swede serving for the match and getting a break point of his own to get back on serve and try to force a 5th ... but from deuce Solberg finished off the match with back-to-back aces. 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4. And the overall numbers were not close at all. 44 to 24 in terms of return points won. After that first set and a half it was domination. Chiba waves goodbye to the top contenders. In the semis, the expected coronation of John Hart, looking for the career grand slam, was once again derailed. Molyneaux shockingly straight-setted him, with two close tiebreaks. Clearly the partisan crowd was the difference-maker. The second one was an epic, Meikeljohn defeating Solberg 7-5 in the 5th of a match that could have gone to either player. In the final, he crushed the hopes of the Flushing Meadows faithful. The pride of India, Brian Meikeljohn has now won the last two Slam titles with a 7-5, 6-4, 7-6(1) decision, a year after being dismissed in round two if you can believe that. Pushed to five in the previous two rounds, this has to have Perez spitting fire at what could have been. There'll be a big shakeup in the Top 10 when we look at the rankings, but the bottom line is that Chiba continues plummeting, Stachovsky and Rhodes are pretenders ... and Meikeljohn takes a big step closer to being a serious rival to Hart for the #1 spot. He's still got a long ways to go to close that gap, but this makes it SF or better at 10 of the 13 big events currently in his rankings. One of the outliers is the Australian Open, so if he starts next year off well we could potentially have a real fight on our hands at the top. ETA: I'm kind of reaching for drama there a bit. Meikeljohn is aging faster than Hart, and it's a real long-shot that he ever truly gets close to #1. But when you've had the same guy on top for over two years, you look for what possibilities there are, and back-to-back Slams isn't nothing. NVM that he should have lost at least once along the way . Last edited by Brian Swartz : 04-05-2019 at 03:03 AM.