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Paris Masters
Another first-round doubles loss for Anil Mehul. That's becoming the rule rather than the exception. Shyam Senepathy qualified, then lost to Besson in a competitive first-round match.
After the first-round byes, hopefuls starting dropping right away. (11) Johnny Browne, (12) Milos Schmucker, and most notably (9) Valentin Rosenberg(to Nikitin) lost in the second round. That last one pretty much ended the Race; Rosenberg has stunk it up in the last two Masters. Varas and Alenichev handed out the other two upsets. There were some good matches in the third round, starting with Andres Varas doing it again in a 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 victory of (8) Ruben Piazzola. He might be backing in, but it looks Piazzola will be in the field anyway. Fangio and Zarco were pushed but survived in three, as did Prakash Mooljee, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 over Alexey Nikitin.
Quarterfinals then featured the Top 7 plus Varas. A first-set bagel gave way to a better second for him, but Kaspar was still a clear winner. Then Ritwik Dudwadkar lost a depressingly one-sided 6-3, 6-2 decision to Fangio. He just can't hang on indoor courts, never has been able to. Similar score for Zarco in a strong performance to eliminate Hsuang-tsung Teng, but a surprise upset in the last match. Mooljee rallies 6-7(3), 6-3, 6-1 to stun (4) Guus Dircx.
Kaspar had one tough set against Gillo Fangio but a 7-5, 6-1 score in the first semi, while Mooljee did it again, 7-5, 6-4 in a close one against second-ranked Martin Zarco. At 31, Prakash reaches his first Masters final in more than two years. Heck of a week for him. Getting there was his victory, and it showed; Mateo Kaspar flattened him 6-2, 6-0. In so doing, he sets another record; first player to ever win all 9 Masters in a single year. Gorritepe came close once, losing in the Cincinatti final. But nobody had ever won all of them -- until now.
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