Front Office Football Central - View Single Post

Brian Swartz · 08-22-2022, 03:54 PM

Roland Garros 2088: Early Rounds

Storylines here include the continuing dominance of Leon Polychroniadis, Toni Bardales trying to finish off his clay season in style, and whether playing in front of partisan fans will help Ben Faille break through. He has yet make week two of a Slam.

There's usually a low seed or two that falls in the first round. This time there was only one seed, and not a particularly low one due to a fairly unique set of circumstances. (13) Ben Hollinger (28, SUI) lost in four sets to Ukranian 25-year-old Murat Kurrenoy. Kurrenoy was ranked 41st coming in, so he's one the more dangerous unseeded players, but he's been all over the place with management. Five of them, one of them taking the helm twice, and finally dumped for good I think end of last year. Gifted enough to entice them, not gifted enough to keep them around. As for Hollinger? He actually is just past his peak despite the age, due to having been abandoned as a junior for a couple years. Current manager's been in charge of him for over a decade and made something of him, but Ben could have been Top 10 at least probably though never a true contender. As it is, he peaked at 13th.

Another intriguing match involved (23) Chulamai Kriangsak (27, THA), who had all he could handle for four sets against veteran Roger Manuel (29, PHI) before eventually prevailing 5-7, 6-4, 6-7(9), 7-6(5), 6-2. In the second round, the big news was Esmik Kteyan (29, ARM). Kteyan is the #2 Armenian player of all time, and has the highest-ranking singles mark ever from that country at 10th, but he's another player who has bounced around a lot and was ranked just 105th coming in here. Managed to put it together and get by (29) Cvetan Calovic (26, SRB) to reach the third round. You don't see that often from players ranked outside the Top 100.

In the third round, (9) Eddy Copperfield did what he's been doing all season; lose early. Up by two sets, he fell victim to a rally by one of the Spaniards we've already seen speak up in the Masters events, Ignaci Saravia. Kurrenoy kept right on going also, knocking off (17) Mahjab Thabet (27, NLD) . A weird match; he won three close sets and got bageled in the second. Kteyan almost made it one step further, but an epic went against him, 9-7 in the 5th against (14) Raul Ramirez (25, MEX).

The first good-sized fish to go down was 5th-ranked [b]Toni Bardales. (10) Ale Ballok (24, ITA) took him down in four sets in the fourth round. Ballok may be one to watch the way he's been playing, and now Bardales basically slid backwards a bit this year in the clay season overall - he was a semifinalist last time here. Oleg Urazov got off to a good start winning a tiebreak in the first set against Weigle, but it got worse the longer the match went on, and he lost in four.

Seven of the top eight seeds made it through, with only Bardales being eliminated early. That's already a career-best showing for Faille, and we'll have to see if he or Ballok can keep it rolling against the top players.

08-22-2022, 03:54 PM	#1266
Brian Swartz Grizzled Veteran Join Date: May 2006	Roland Garros 2088: Early Rounds Storylines here include the continuing dominance of Leon Polychroniadis, Toni Bardales trying to finish off his clay season in style, and whether playing in front of partisan fans will help Ben Faille break through. He has yet make week two of a Slam. There's usually a low seed or two that falls in the first round. This time there was only one seed, and not a particularly low one due to a fairly unique set of circumstances. (13) Ben Hollinger (28, SUI) lost in four sets to Ukranian 25-year-old Murat Kurrenoy. Kurrenoy was ranked 41st coming in, so he's one the more dangerous unseeded players, but he's been all over the place with management. Five of them, one of them taking the helm twice, and finally dumped for good I think end of last year. Gifted enough to entice them, not gifted enough to keep them around. As for Hollinger? He actually is just past his peak despite the age, due to having been abandoned as a junior for a couple years. Current manager's been in charge of him for over a decade and made something of him, but Ben could have been Top 10 at least probably though never a true contender. As it is, he peaked at 13th. Another intriguing match involved (23) Chulamai Kriangsak (27, THA), who had all he could handle for four sets against veteran Roger Manuel (29, PHI) before eventually prevailing 5-7, 6-4, 6-7(9), 7-6(5), 6-2. In the second round, the big news was Esmik Kteyan (29, ARM). Kteyan is the #2 Armenian player of all time, and has the highest-ranking singles mark ever from that country at 10th, but he's another player who has bounced around a lot and was ranked just 105th coming in here. Managed to put it together and get by (29) Cvetan Calovic (26, SRB) to reach the third round. You don't see that often from players ranked outside the Top 100. In the third round, (9) Eddy Copperfield did what he's been doing all season; lose early. Up by two sets, he fell victim to a rally by one of the Spaniards we've already seen speak up in the Masters events, Ignaci Saravia. Kurrenoy kept right on going also, knocking off (17) Mahjab Thabet (27, NLD) . A weird match; he won three close sets and got bageled in the second. Kteyan almost made it one step further, but an epic went against him, 9-7 in the 5th against (14) Raul Ramirez (25, MEX). The first good-sized fish to go down was 5th-ranked [b]Toni Bardales. (10) Ale Ballok (24, ITA) took him down in four sets in the fourth round. Ballok may be one to watch the way he's been playing, and now Bardales basically slid backwards a bit this year in the clay season overall - he was a semifinalist last time here. Oleg Urazov got off to a good start winning a tiebreak in the first set against Weigle, but it got worse the longer the match went on, and he lost in four. Seven of the top eight seeds made it through, with only Bardales being eliminated early. That's already a career-best showing for Faille, and we'll have to see if he or Ballok can keep it rolling against the top players. Last edited by Brian Swartz : 08-23-2022 at 07:38 AM.