[Brian Swartz]

Paris

Mehul/Kroese had themselves an eventful tournament. The quarterfinals brought a narrow super TB win over Podkopayev/Cordovez. Then Arendt/Yumashev, presently ranked third, beat them in the semis by a similar score; 6-4, 2-6, 10-8. Both matches could have gone either way. A solid showing keeping them in the #5 spot overall, although the Rhodes brothers from the Phillipines and the Ukrainian pair are both close behind. It will take a good showing in the tour finals to keep from slipping further. Shyam Senepathy made it through qualifying, then beat Cirakovic in a first-round epic, 7-6(5), 6-7(3), 7-6(5). You don't get any closer than that. In the next round he was broomed quickly by 14th-seeded Rosenberg, so as good as you can ask for here from him.

In the second round, first hurdle for the WTF hopefuls, the veteran Tomas Niklas put in his two cents with a considerable upset over Teng in a close three-set affair. That should have , but probably wouldn't due to the ranking issue, knock the New Zealander out of contention. Mooljee had to struggle to get by unseeded Argentine Andres Varas, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4. There were a couple other close calls but no other defeats. In the third round, almost everyone had some trouble. Dudwadkar got a rematch with Milos Schmucker, getting the better of him this time 7-5, 6-7(7), 6-3. Mooljee had similar trouble with Matthew Panter but won as well. Also going the distance were Dircx over (9) Sigmund Kronecker, and Browne over Piazzola. With the top German losing here, he was now at the mercy of the accountants. Unless they made a correction, he would be unfairly cast aside from the WTF field. Another tough win by Tomas Niklas, three tiebreaks over Espinoza, sent the German contingent home in total.

It also made the former world. no.2, now nearly 31 years old, the lone party-crasher in a quarterfinal round that featured the top seven players as well. In Slam events he hasn't gotten this far in three seasons, but still manages to do so in the Masters a couple times a year. His old rival Mooljee was awaiting him, and after stealing the first set the Czech was eventually defeated. Ritwik Dudwadkar got the treatment from Kaspar, 3 & 1, winning just four points from his serve. That's rough. Johnny Browne pushed Dircx before losing, while the big surprise was Guus Dircx losing badly to Zarco, 6-3, 6-2. The Spaniard isn't a particularly noteworthy indoor player -- it's his worst surface, so this was not expected.

In the semis, Martin Zarco kept going with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 win over Dircx. Should have lost that one(96-92 in points), but he managed to sneak out the win regardless. Mooljee was the latest victim of Mateo Kaspar, and he did little better; five points won on the Frenchman's impregnable serve. Zarco did better than that on return in the final, but was broken five times himself in a 6-3, 6-0 debacle. Kaspar was probably the most dominant I've ever seen him here, and that's saying something. He lost 20 total games in five matches, with only one competitive set(Jolland, third round).

Final Race Standings

There were no surprises here at Paris; those who were in stayed there. Here's how it will look going into the Finals in Russia.

1. Mateo Kaspar -- 16,360. Going for his 5th straight title, which would tie the record by Gorritepe. It's obvious that he can be beaten by nobody but himself.
2. Gillo Fangio -- 8,320
3. Guus Dircx -- 6,940. Locked into #2 and #3 here.
4. Prakash Mooljee -- 6,180
5. Ritwik Dudwadkar -- 5,410. Making his debut, and too far back of Mooljee to have a realistic shot at catching him. That'll have to wait till next year.
6. Johnny Browne -- 4,765
7. Martin Zarco -- 4,610. Another good tournament by Zarco could see him move back up to sixth.
8. Hsuang-tsung Teng -- 3,950. Should be Kronecker here. Teng is our second player making their WTF debut, but it comes with a massive asterisk. We'll see what he makes of the opportunity.

It's still a young group, with only the fading Mooljee and Browne over the age of 26.