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Old 09-04-2016, 03:43 PM   #475
Brian Swartz
Grizzled Veteran
 
Join Date: May 2006
June

This year is a little different due to the schedule change, which I didn't realize until it was almost too late. The main difference is Wimbledon getting pushed back a week, meaning three grass weeks in the leadup. In the middle of that, two of the 250 events have been bumped to 500s, Halle and Queens. As it worked out, I had one player each of the interim weeks, so there was a tournament constantly going on for me.

First up, Ritwik Dudwadkar was in Tunis. He won his third straight tier-3, while coming in runner-up in doubles once again as well. None of the singles matches were particularly close. It's starting to look like he's ready for a step up, but there will be at least one, probably two more events at this level first. He's starting to gradually inch up the rankings now at 80th following this win, as things stabilize going into the second half of the year.

Then came the 500s, and Prakash Mooljee entered Halle as the 4th seed there. His goal here was to assure that he stayed ahead of the pack and in the Top 16 going into Wimbledon and the year's second half. The top four all made it to the semifinals, which was good enough to give Mooljee a bit of a bump. There he played the match of the tournament against second seed Bjorn Benda, who is under new management that is overplaying him a bit. Somebody was bound to pick him up eventually. After dropping the first set in a tiebreak, Mooljee found himself headed for another tough loss, down 5-2 in the second-set breaker and two points from defeat. He proceeded to reel off five straight to take the set, and eventually the match 6-7(4), 7-6(5), 6-3! It was a deserved win, but at only 2 of 11 on break chances it nearly got away from him. Benda served well when it mattered with 18 aces to 14 and no double faults, but needed one or two more big ones to close it out and didn't get them. After winning a long first-set tiebreak in the final, Mooljee closed out Mugur Kinczllers to claim his first 500-level title, six months ahead of Mehul and Girsh both in this milestone! A pair of wins over Top-10 opponents, and his best-ever single-week haul in terms of points. This pretty much ensures he'll stay up in the Top 16, and can set his sights higher now.

The final in-between week saw Anil Mehul head to the new 250 event in Antalya, Turkey. The last three matches were competitive, and he dropped a set to Rui Padilla(ESP) in the quarters, but Mehul claimed his expected 7th 250-level title and first on grass.
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