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Canada Masters
Nothing too surprising in the opening rounds, best eight seeds all through to the quarterfinals. And then Oleg Urazov beat world no. 1 Renke Cananis, 6-4, 7-6(1). What?? His first win in eight meetings, first set he's won in a best of three, a couple five-setters have gone to four, but this is just a shocker. You have to seriously wonder about Cananis after a match like this.
Solitris Papadias lost to Faille routinely, Toni Bardales gave Leon Polychroniadis a serious run for his money before losing in three sets, and Jochen Weigle was more competitive than usual, still edged 7-5, 7-6(8) by Xanthos. In the semis, Urazov took a tiebreaker from Ben Faille, then was beaten 6-7(7), 6-1, 6-4. Pretty big statement being made here by Urazov, who had already surprassed Ale Ballok for the #8 spot. After a bad first set, Themis Xanthos came back to beat Polychroniadis in three sets. Neither of the top two in the final. This is starting to become not that rare of an event.
Faille claimed a competitive title in a 6-3, 6-4 finale over Xanthos, his 3rd Masters Shield. Meanwhile, for the moment Cananis falls to #2 and Polychroniadis is back to #1, but the margin is less than 300 points and it's possible Faille could take command as early as the US Open. The cracks in the power couple are now evident for all to see.
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