|
Shanghai Masters
Shyam Senepathy lost in the final qualifying round, so he was out before things properly began. Mehul/Kroese got through to the semis pretty easily, where they outlasted #3 seeds Yumashev/Arendt in a 10-6 super TB. Played well in the final also, and lost a match to Aspelin/Cordasic that they probably should have won, 7-6(4), 4-6, 10-4. Still a good week, and they've got a solid grip on the #2 team spot now.
6th-ranked Martin Zarco was the first top seed to exit in the second round, proving his hardcourt weakness in a loss to Strelkov. Besson and Guardado were also out by that point, and Shreya Ujjaval dropped a 7-6(5), 6-2 decision to Stronecker. Probably the most surprising thing that happened was Kaspar losing a set to a qualifier before restoring order. There were a lot of three-set matches in the next round. Zakirov over Tiosav Srbulovic was the best, and Mooljee got a challenge from Juan de los Santos before coming through. Johnny Browne was Kronecker's latest victim, an early exit for him.
The quarterfinals had a few surprises, but nobody lower than 11th so no huge ones. The top three all won in straight sets, with the final match going to Niklas in a three-setter over Sigmund Kronecker. It went to a tiebreak in the decider and could have gone either way. The semifinals were predictable as well; Kaspar over Gillo Fangio and Mooljee over Tomas Niklas, both not close matches. Mateo Kaspar took the title 7-5, 6-3, in a week that other than a few things in the early rounds held nothing out of the ordinary.
|