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Cincinatti Masters
Mehul/Kroese had a bad hangover here, losing in their very first match. Unseeded Ukrainians Buynov/Bezhin knocked them off in an epic, 7-6(6), 1-6, 15-13. Two tiebreaks that they were right there for, multiple match points, and they were slightly the better team(80-76 in points) but couldn't finish. This is exactly the kind of defeat that almost erases what they did in Canada, and will make it really tough to reach the top.
Shyam Senepathy qualified this time, and faced another qualifier, losing 6-3, 7-5 to Argentinian Yuri Podkopayev, a top-10 doubles player not known for his singles prowess. It was nearly a repeat for Ujjaval as well; he had a good, decisive first-round win and then lost to Luc Janin again, giving him a run for his money but once again coming up short. No blame here. Meanwhile Besson was not as impressive, with the 15-seed going out in the second round to rising New Zealander Hsuang-tsung Teng, 7-5 in the decider. By the end of the third round there were more high-profile exits. Gillo Fangio fell again, this time to Dircx. Blagota Cojanovic won in two tiebreaks over Niklas, a round after taking out Santos. Two Top 10 scalps already this week for him. Janin departed courtesy of Manee Paschal(PHI).
The quarters featured then a clear division, with the world's top 3 along with two unseeded players and 7, 9, and 12 in the middle of all of that. Kaspar demolished Khasan Zakirov, Cojanovic's run ended courtesy of Guus Dircx, and Browne destroyed Martin Zarco. Paschal gave Mooljee more fun than he wanted, but ultimately he couldn't threaten Prakash's serve and it ended in straight sets. The semis were a bloodbath this week as well, with Dircx and Prakash Mooljee unable to compete. With his home crowd behind him, Johnny Browne surged to the final and defeated Kaspar for the first time in over a year, 7-6(3), 7-6(3). It's the first Master's title of the US #1, although he has the two Slams. At 27 and in his prime, he may not get many more options. Definitely looking a real threat heading to the US Open.
Elsewhere ...
Ritwik Dudwadkar easily won the title in tier-1 Beijing, then turned around to enter San Marino. There he faced basically an equal in the final, first time he's been in that situation in a while. And he did what he does in those circumstances ... lose. Top-seed Andres Varas dominated in a 6-4, 6-4 match that wasn't that close. He may have been a slight favorite overall, but at least a more competitive result was hoped for.
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