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Miami
Hughes/Hart did it all over again, this time as top seeds … and this time nobody got close to them. Guha/Chiba got an up close and personal look at the new kings of doubles as they were double-bageled in the semifinals. Of course the big news for us was getting that far; a 6-3, 7-6(8) over 5th-seeded Arquilere/Gravier in the first round was the only major hurdle en route … but that stomping was ugly. Won only a third of the points on our own serve. There, uh, might be some work yet to do.
The singles action provided a marked change from IW in some ways. Nicolas Perez got back in the winner's circle, taking down Calisto Aviles who avoided any early stumbles - a rough start to the year for him but atoned here somewhat. 6-3, 7-6(2) was the count here in a clear win for Perez who now has 13 Masters; 2-3 more will get him on the all-time list. First semifinal victim was Velilla in a rematch of IW, but this time he went down in three sets against Perez. It was close once more though. Aviles knocked out Il-Sung Jung in a couple of tiebreaks; the Korean seems to like Miami, and won here last year, but came up a bit short this time.
Another QF loss for Chisulo Mpakati (l. N. Perez), Harald Wentz went out here (l. Jung), and a solid showing for Odimos Csollang who hasn't been quite as good as I expected (l. Aviles in three). Oh, and then there was the tournament surprise award to Mark Smith, competitively losing to Velilla after having eliminating L. Perez a couple rounds previous. Smith simply will not be ignored, and he's showing he'll be dangerous on more surfaces than just grass.
Algot Hakanson (l. Velilla) and Ross Vicars (l. Wentz in three to end his streak) were the only other Anilophiles to reach the round of 16. In the third, Joao Narciso (l. de Jong), Clavet Moniotte (l. de Boer the Lesser in three), Tommy Fitzpatrick (l. Wentz but credibly), Helmut Edlund (l. Aviles, again, this time in three), and Amrik Kasaravalli (l. Hudobin in three) were knocked out. Kasaravalli had even points, 88-88 in his match, against young Hudobin who made a big impression this month. But there are no moral victories for him at this stage. He lost a round early in both events.
So did Nasir Chittoor, who got a rematch with Shakti Vemireddy and again came up short, 7-6(7), 4-6, 6-3. Very close, but Vemireddy deserved the win. That was another second-round defeat while seeded that Nasir couldn't afford. In the first I lost my other two players: Satyagit Guha qualified but lost to a second qualifier, while Sushant Chiba was edged out in three by Italian Siu-Chung Men.
Other than the doubles tandem, this was another crap event for my contingent. We need to pull our heads out of our posteriors and start winning more of these close matches.
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