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Brian Swartz · 04-30-2019, 01:33 AM

February/March

Sri Lanka smashed Poland as expected, 4-1, in the second round of WTC Group Play. Lost in doubles, straight-set wins in the others. The points were very welcome for Kasaravalli, who had two singles wins last year and already has three in his four rubbers this season with at least one more round to go. In fact, he would have dropped out of the Top 32 without getting both Ws. More on that later. He's also now out of the national doubles team.

Right now it's Sweden 2, Sri Lanka/Poland 1, and India 0 in the group standings after Sweden edged India 3-2. Basically we need Sweden to pound Poland, who we hold a slight tiebreaker edge on right now, worse than India beats us. That's what'll determine who the second team out is. I like our chances at the moment - I figure us to lose 3-2 to India but that should be good enough ... esp. if we can get a set or two off of Meikeljohn somewhere in there.

Sushant Chiba then had a couple more meh performances. Delray Beach 250 ended in the SFs (l. Mpakati), and Acapulco 500 in the QFs (l. #30 Lucas Perez(ARG), 6-3, 7-6(5)). The first one got him just barely back into the Top 10, he's basically been trading with Balzer for that final first-page spot. I've seen nothing to indicate he won't keep dropping futher. I have decided what to do with Chiba long-term though. Once he falls out of the Top 32, and possibly sooner depending on other events, he'll pair with Guha in doubles whenever it's useful (i.e., whenever it wouldn't be better for Guha to play with Chittoor). Not sure how that'll all work out but it'll be interesting to have a has-been and a young doubles aficianado together for a while. No idea what the ceiling will be on them. We'll just have to see how it goes.

Amrik Kasaravalli tried to find a 250 with decent seeding but none were available. So he was 7th at the Brasil Open this week, where he did what was expected of him but not more. QF loss to (2) Samuel Aas, 6-4, 7-6(5). Return stats were nearly identical; same # of points, 24-22 Aas in terms of points won. But the serve numbers: 8 aces 2 DF for the Swede, 4 aces 7 DF for Amrik, were quite telling. This is his best surface so it likely would have been worse elsewhere. If everything goes at expected in the upcoming Masters, he'll basically stay right where is - on the bubble. It would be nice to pull an upset in one of them and get some breathing room. Right now he has 23 points on Todhunters, with three others within 100.

Nasir Chittoor lost in the final of a second straight FT2 in the UAE, thanks to fellow Reaper Girish Shivakumar. Shivakumar is a few months older, not that much, but is a better athlete with similar technique. And it showed. I expected the same in his most recent outing, but he suprised me last week with a 6-3, 6-2 dismissal of Ireland's Trevor McEvoy. McEvoy, the top seed, is another of those high-skill, low-serve guys at 5.1/1.5. Never know what's going to happen with those, but it went quite well. So I figure Nasir, currently sitting at 298th, is ready to make the jump to to the top FT1 futures tier. He'll still need 3-4 more titles at this level to make it up, and is spending longer than expected here. Part of that is good news though, with the extra doubles matches he gets with Guha. They made it to the final of the same event, falling 11-9 in a super TB to the top seeds. Doesn't get any closer than that. The last couple of futures eventes had not been as kind.

As for Satyagit Guha, he finally said goodbye to the amateur ranks with a second singles title, this one in Morocco three weeks ago. He still sputters mostly in futures, losing in the first round to the 4-seed in the last tournament. For a bit the pairing was almost out of the Top 1000 in doubles, but they've bounced back up into the mid-700s with the stronger showing in Chile. Still need to basically double their points for either to crack the national team, so that's not going to happen unless we get out of group play. Which is another really big reason to hope that happens - if they were able to team up for WTC QF action, it would be great for both the country and for their development.

Coming Up …

The first hardcourt masters, the IW/Miami double. Chiba tries to not fall too much further, Kasaravalli gets what is probably going to be his only Masters action of the year, and the youngsters get more practice before going out for their next futures expedition. We'll take another look at the rankings picture after that, but in general things are not substantively different. Perez getting up to #3 and winning the AO remains the top headline of the year to date. Can he follow it up in the USA?

04-30-2019, 01:33 AM	#985
Brian Swartz Grizzled Veteran Join Date: May 2006	February/March Sri Lanka smashed Poland as expected, 4-1, in the second round of WTC Group Play. Lost in doubles, straight-set wins in the others. The points were very welcome for Kasaravalli, who had two singles wins last year and already has three in his four rubbers this season with at least one more round to go. In fact, he would have dropped out of the Top 32 without getting both Ws. More on that later. He's also now out of the national doubles team. Right now it's Sweden 2, Sri Lanka/Poland 1, and India 0 in the group standings after Sweden edged India 3-2. Basically we need Sweden to pound Poland, who we hold a slight tiebreaker edge on right now, worse than India beats us. That's what'll determine who the second team out is. I like our chances at the moment - I figure us to lose 3-2 to India but that should be good enough ... esp. if we can get a set or two off of Meikeljohn somewhere in there. Sushant Chiba then had a couple more meh performances. Delray Beach 250 ended in the SFs (l. Mpakati), and Acapulco 500 in the QFs (l. #30 Lucas Perez(ARG), 6-3, 7-6(5)). The first one got him just barely back into the Top 10, he's basically been trading with Balzer for that final first-page spot. I've seen nothing to indicate he won't keep dropping futher. I have decided what to do with Chiba long-term though. Once he falls out of the Top 32, and possibly sooner depending on other events, he'll pair with Guha in doubles whenever it's useful (i.e., whenever it wouldn't be better for Guha to play with Chittoor). Not sure how that'll all work out but it'll be interesting to have a has-been and a young doubles aficianado together for a while. No idea what the ceiling will be on them. We'll just have to see how it goes. Amrik Kasaravalli tried to find a 250 with decent seeding but none were available. So he was 7th at the Brasil Open this week, where he did what was expected of him but not more. QF loss to (2) Samuel Aas, 6-4, 7-6(5). Return stats were nearly identical; same # of points, 24-22 Aas in terms of points won. But the serve numbers: 8 aces 2 DF for the Swede, 4 aces 7 DF for Amrik, were quite telling. This is his best surface so it likely would have been worse elsewhere. If everything goes at expected in the upcoming Masters, he'll basically stay right where is - on the bubble. It would be nice to pull an upset in one of them and get some breathing room. Right now he has 23 points on Todhunters, with three others within 100. Nasir Chittoor lost in the final of a second straight FT2 in the UAE, thanks to fellow Reaper Girish Shivakumar. Shivakumar is a few months older, not that much, but is a better athlete with similar technique. And it showed. I expected the same in his most recent outing, but he suprised me last week with a 6-3, 6-2 dismissal of Ireland's Trevor McEvoy. McEvoy, the top seed, is another of those high-skill, low-serve guys at 5.1/1.5. Never know what's going to happen with those, but it went quite well. So I figure Nasir, currently sitting at 298th, is ready to make the jump to to the top FT1 futures tier. He'll still need 3-4 more titles at this level to make it up, and is spending longer than expected here. Part of that is good news though, with the extra doubles matches he gets with Guha. They made it to the final of the same event, falling 11-9 in a super TB to the top seeds. Doesn't get any closer than that. The last couple of futures eventes had not been as kind. As for Satyagit Guha, he finally said goodbye to the amateur ranks with a second singles title, this one in Morocco three weeks ago. He still sputters mostly in futures, losing in the first round to the 4-seed in the last tournament. For a bit the pairing was almost out of the Top 1000 in doubles, but they've bounced back up into the mid-700s with the stronger showing in Chile. Still need to basically double their points for either to crack the national team, so that's not going to happen unless we get out of group play. Which is another really big reason to hope that happens - if they were able to team up for WTC QF action, it would be great for both the country and for their development. Coming Up … The first hardcourt masters, the IW/Miami double. Chiba tries to not fall too much further, Kasaravalli gets what is probably going to be his only Masters action of the year, and the youngsters get more practice before going out for their next futures expedition. We'll take another look at the rankings picture after that, but in general things are not substantively different. Perez getting up to #3 and winning the AO remains the top headline of the year to date. Can he follow it up in the USA? Last edited by Brian Swartz : 04-30-2019 at 01:37 AM.