[Brian Swartz]

2056 Wimbledon

Anil Mehul found a bit of success, but only a bit. After a straight-sets win over a qualifying combo in the first round, his pairing was run over by 4th seeds Zakirov/Kroese. Nice to see Lars finding success again, and this time it's with former Top-10 performer Khasan Zakirov, pride of Uzbekistan. 6-0, 6-1, 6-4 in that match, so it was a clear-cut defeat. That's a more age-appropriate pairing; Zakirov is 33, Kroese almost 30. Shyam Senepathy lost his first-round singles match to Peruvian Paulo Alba. A competitive three there, 6-3, 7-5, 6-3. A significant result, because Alba's career-best ranking is 99th. Another clear sign that Senepathy's presence in this thread will soon go from marginal to non-existent(my standard for that is when he drops out of the Top 100, I'll stop reporting on him).

The big news from round one was undoubtedly the early departure of (11)Valentin Rosenberg. He's been down, but this isn't down, this is embarrassing. Ali Kaihep, of the mighty tennis magnate that is Algeria(had a #1 doubles player way back in the day, but 42nd is the record high for any singles, and that wasn't Kaihep) defeated him in one of several epic matches. 7-5, 4-6, 6-3, 3-6, 13-11. One of the best of the day, but Rosenberg going out in the first round, even though he's never been a great grass player, is pretty big news. Zimolo(32nd) and Besson(20th) were both pushed to five as well, but the Swiss is the only seed to actually lose. Of the other matches, there was an interesting one between a couple of the aging Herrera brothers, who haven't merited mention here in several years, and perhaps the best showcased German Muhammed Bedriddin another of the Kaspar clan, Lucas, 7-6(6), 4-6, 6-7(12), 7-6(4), 8-6. Only one set failed to get to 'extra innings' in that barn-burner. A couple of Chiba's juniors counterparts got a win to move on to the second round, where they would lose to seeded opposition: both Stanley Edleman and Uglesa Svajnovic were successful. Chiba himself of course is not at a level where he's participating in these events yet, so those players continue to be ahead of him ... for now.

A couple of casualties in a quieter second round. Ariel Borja, a name not heard for some while, knocked out (18)Alexey Alenichev, winning three straight tiebreaks. That's a pretty rare scoreline. The afore-mentioned Khasan Zakirov defeated (21)Stefano Espinoza in a tough four as well. 10th-ranked Matthew Panter nearly bought it, going to 7-5 in a rough 5-setter before surviving. Panter would make it no further, suffering a still-disappointing four-set defeat to (32)Matteo Zimolo ... who almost lost in the first round himself. It was also time for a mild upset of the ever-disappointing (13)Milos Schmucker ... perhaps not really an upset with Mackenzie doing the honors. There were some other fireworks as well. Jolland over Blake in four in one of those All-American clashes, Zarco(over Cone) and Dudwadkar(over #27 Castegali) both lost the first set before rallying for fairly tough wins. Match of the day honors goes to (9)Sigmund Kronecker, for whom seeding held, barely, in an 8-6 final-set triumph over 20th-ranked Besson.

After all that, the best nine players were still here for the fourth round. Without a doubt, the most surprising scoreline at the last 16 was the following: (9)Sigmund Kronecker(ITA) d. (6)Gillo Fangio(ITA), 6-0, 6-1, 6-0. What even happened there? Seriously?? It was the only upset, though Mooljee, after cruising through three matches, went up two sets on (16)Benno Duhr and then narrowly survived, 7-6(2), 6-4, 6-7(8), 4-6, 6-2.

8 of the Top 9 then, sans Fangio, into week two. There's been some chaos, but once again it's ultimately the same guys. A close three is all that was needed for Kaspar to douse Ruben Piazzola once again. Prakash Mooljee was bageled in the first set, fought back to split a pair of tiebreaks, but ultimately fell in four to Dircx. Kronecker was next up on Dudwadkar's hit parade, and while it went four Ritwik really dominated the match. 6-7(7), 4-6, 7-6(3), 7-6(6), 11-9 was the score for one whale of a comeback victory and the only 'upset' of the quarterfinals: (3)Martin Zarco expires courtesy of Teng. That's a tough one to be on the losing end of.

Another close three for the King, and Guus Dircx is the latest to not beat him in off-clay matches. Hsuang-tsung Teng had enough left in the tank to give five again ... but not enough to pull off another upset. Ritwik Dudwadkar prevails 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(3), 6-7(5), 7-5. Then in the final, Mateo Kaspar extracts a bit of revenge. He may not be what he was a year or two ago, but he's good enough to win Wimbledon, his third-choice surface, without losing a set. 6-3, 7-6(3), 7-6(7), his closest match yet, but it was clear who the deserving winner was. By making the final while Zarco lost in the quarters though, Dudwadkar solidifies his grip on the #2. I doubt it comes under threat again for a while.