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Indian Wells
Shyam Senepathy got a solid first-round win, then went out to one of the newer members the elite class, 26th-ranked Matteo Zimolo ... of Monaco. Only the most obsessive readers will remember the name of that tiny nation's greatest player -- I barely remember it myself. Jean-Luc Veniard reached a peak of 19th nearly two decades ago. Zimolo is already considered #3 in their history. At 27 and essentially at his peak, it's interesting little small story to see if he sets a new record. Project 18 anyone? Meanwhile a poor start to the year for Mehul/Kroese continues, as they are bounced by the Rhodes bros., seeded 8th, 11-9 in a super TB in the QF round. Went in as the #1 doubles team again, but after winning this event last year that status just went away.
First testy match for either of my big boys came in the third round, with Mooljee having to work against Andres Varas(ARG, 19th) for a 7-6(0), 6-3 win. Kronecker almost lost at that stage but survived, and young American Dick Blake used the home crowd to knock off Santos. Overall the Americans were doing quite well for themselves, though Borja continues to fall like a sinking ship -- Hsuang-Tsung Teng(17), who seems stuck in the teens, took him down. In the fourth, a rematch between Sigmund Kronecker and Dudwadkar, with a stunning result. Two breadsticks. 6-1, 6-1, Ritwik destroyed him with more than 60% of his return points going in the plus column. Where was that at the AO? The only other unexpected seed to get past here was (14)Stefano Espinoza, keeping the German dream alive with a straight-set win over Jolland.
Espinoza put up a bit of a fight in the quarters, but was dispatched by Mateo Kaspar. Martin Zarco went out in a close one to Fangio, and in another close match between the two of them, Guus Dircx was stopped by Browne, 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-3. Meanwhile my two guys were in the same quarter, with Mooljee taking this one 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. By the end of the year he probably won't be winning these anymore, but for now ...
After a decent fight, Prakash Mooljee lost 4 & 4 to Kaspar. In the second semi, the crowd helped will Browne past Gillo Fangio after an epic first-set breaker. The top American didn't have much left for the final, as he found himself eating a 6-1, 6-1 count. Result's not a surprise, but I thought it might be closer. As it ends up, Mooljee was Kaspar's toughest match here.
Copa Gerdau
The juniors version of Masters event, the JGA, had it's first edition of the year as well but this one on clay. Kutuzov/Chiba took the doubles without much resistance and no sets lost, continuing to help his case for staying up in the rankings. On the other side of the draw, it was another one-sided QF loss; 6-3, 6-1 to (7)Willy Bochette. The champ was Edleman again, who apparently has no juniors competition. 6-3, 6-2 was his closest encounter.
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