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Paris Masters
Mehul/Kroese had themselves another good, competitive run. Podkopayev/Cordovez pushed them to 7-5, 7-5 in the quarters, and it took a 10-6 super TB to knock out 4th seeds Gaskell/Trulsen, the former #1s, in the semifinals. In the finals they upset Aspelin/Cordasic to take the title, 6-3, 7-6(4)! A great display of returning was the key as they won half the points against the top-ranked duo's serve. It's Mehul's 4th doubles Masters, and essentially assures their #2 spot at year's end.
On the other side of things, Shyam Senepathy had a good week, qualifying and winning in the first round before bowing out to Guardado in the second. Race hopefuls Besson(l. Espinoza, 6-4, 6-4) and Srbulovic(l. (Q) Muhammad Bedriddin, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4) bowed out at the first hurdle, but most advanced.
Third Round -- Here's where the better players started squaring off. Sigmund Kronecker stayed very much in it with a 6-3, 6-4 upset of Luc Janin, but Guus Dircx refused to give up his spot, knocking out Borja 6-4, 7-5. The American was still in jeopardy of potentially losing his spot in the tour finals at this point. The favorites won everywhere else, including Zakirov staying in the fight by defeating Juan de los Santos easily.
The three fighting for that final spot, unless a couple of them could advance to the final and surpass Borja, all impressively made it to the quarterfinals. It was all Top 10 players left here. This is where the train stopped for them though. Kronecker was easily tossed aside by Mateo Kaspar, Dircx lost to Gillo Fangio 6-2, 7-6(6), and Khasan Zakirov was dropped 6-4, 7-5 in a close one against Browne. Mooljee also won a competitive match over Zarco. All of this meant Borja and Dircx were in, Kronecker and Zakirov out. They played well here but did no better than the 22-year-old from the Netherlands, who becomes the third neophyte this year along with Zarco and Borja. Niklas, Santos, and Zakirov are all out from last year's field. A changing of the guard at the bottom with the Top 5 same as they were a year ago. 5 of the Top 8 are now 24 or younger; a 6th, Janin, is just 25. It's definitely a young group that has the potential to largely stay in place for quite a while. #2 Mooljee(28) and #4 Browne(27) aren't that old but ancient by comparison.
The semifinals here were both very close. Fangio gave the #1 a big run before losing in a pair of tiebreaks, and it took a third-set breaker for Mooljee to stop Johnny Browne, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(3). The final ... not so much. Mateo Kaspar crushed Mooljee, grabbing his 5th Masters of the year. A surprisingly low number actually, considering he had 7 a year ago and won all the Slams.
Ritwik Dudwadkar won his fourth straight challenger, a tier-2 in Sao Leopoldo. He'll end the year with a pair of back-to-back 'CH+' tournaments that will both be indoors and packed with top challenger competition. If he does well there, he'll definitely be seeded at the AO next year.
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