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Brian Swartz · 09-26-2019, 02:58 AM

January

World Team Cup, Group Play Round 1
Sri Lanka vs. United States, Indoors

The matchup between #4 and #3 in the world rankings got off to a rough start for us. A back-and-forth encounter between veterans Barry Molyneaux and Sushant Chiba went in favor of the opposition, 6-4, 4-6, 6-7(2), 7-6(5), 7-5. Every chance for Chiba to win it in those last two sets. Kasaravalli evened it up with a four-set win over Vicars, and then doubles happened. . Pargeter/Geng rallied from a 2-0 set deficit, including a third-set breaker and close sets in the fourth and fifth, to put the US back on top. Again Amrik Kasaravalli was able to equalize, another four-set win over Molyneaux. But when Ross Vicars dismissed Chiba in straight-sets on Friday, we lost a heartbreaking 3-2 decision. In a tie we could easily have won 4-1 and should have taken 3-2 at a minimum, we lost.

The margin for error is now over. We need to beat Italy and the Netherlands, and I'm not certain we will manage to second task. Probably we get out of this group, but it's now an open question.

The next week, it was time for the warmup events. In Brisbane, Kasaravalli needed three sets to get by a qualifier early on but eventually reached the SF round … where Calisto Aviles was a bridge too far, competitive but clear two-set defeat. Chiba entered as well but was upset by German Claud Rothsberg in the second round, 7-6(6), 4-6, 7-5. At least he got some good mileage out of losing to a player not in the Top 50. Satyagit Guha was off to Noumea CH1, where he unsurprisingly lost in the first round of singles but made the SF in doubles, so it was at least a decent week for matches. Impressively, Lubas Rucklov knocked out the player there I wanted to avoid, Russian Ivan Hudobin, in the second round! Rucklov would go on to make the final. And Nasir Chittoor played in Sao Paolo CH1. The one serious customer there was in the semifinals, Pieter de Boer. Chittoor was fortunate to escape a match that should have been a close loss, 6-4, 7-5, by winning all five of his break chances. He claims what I hope will be his final challenger win.

Coming Up …

The next week, which we're currently in, is just practice for my players. All will be entering the Australian Open as we start to see who got the job done in off-season training and who went through the motions.

09-26-2019, 02:58 AM	#1206
Brian Swartz Grizzled Veteran Join Date: May 2006	January World Team Cup, Group Play Round 1 Sri Lanka vs. United States, Indoors The matchup between #4 and #3 in the world rankings got off to a rough start for us. A back-and-forth encounter between veterans Barry Molyneaux and Sushant Chiba went in favor of the opposition, 6-4, 4-6, 6-7(2), 7-6(5), 7-5. Every chance for Chiba to win it in those last two sets. Kasaravalli evened it up with a four-set win over Vicars, and then doubles happened. . Pargeter/Geng rallied from a 2-0 set deficit, including a third-set breaker and close sets in the fourth and fifth, to put the US back on top. Again Amrik Kasaravalli was able to equalize, another four-set win over Molyneaux. But when Ross Vicars dismissed Chiba in straight-sets on Friday, we lost a heartbreaking 3-2 decision. In a tie we could easily have won 4-1 and should have taken 3-2 at a minimum, we lost. The margin for error is now over. We need to beat Italy and the Netherlands, and I'm not certain we will manage to second task. Probably we get out of this group, but it's now an open question. The next week, it was time for the warmup events. In Brisbane, Kasaravalli needed three sets to get by a qualifier early on but eventually reached the SF round … where Calisto Aviles was a bridge too far, competitive but clear two-set defeat. Chiba entered as well but was upset by German Claud Rothsberg in the second round, 7-6(6), 4-6, 7-5. At least he got some good mileage out of losing to a player not in the Top 50. Satyagit Guha was off to Noumea CH1, where he unsurprisingly lost in the first round of singles but made the SF in doubles, so it was at least a decent week for matches. Impressively, Lubas Rucklov knocked out the player there I wanted to avoid, Russian Ivan Hudobin, in the second round! Rucklov would go on to make the final. And Nasir Chittoor played in Sao Paolo CH1. The one serious customer there was in the semifinals, Pieter de Boer. Chittoor was fortunate to escape a match that should have been a close loss, 6-4, 7-5, by winning all five of his break chances. He claims what I hope will be his final challenger win. Coming Up … The next week, which we're currently in, is just practice for my players. All will be entering the Australian Open as we start to see who got the job done in off-season training and who went through the motions.