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Old 10-07-2019, 09:05 PM   #1215
Brian Swartz
Grizzled Veteran
 
Join Date: May 2006
Indian Wells

Guha/Chiba had a pair of close calls in doubles, winning in a first-round super TB then losing in a second try at it 14-12. Hughes/Hart did a little better, taking a 10-7 TB in a semifinal win over the former #1s from Mexico, then beating top seeds Nives/Godinic to claim the IW doubles crown. With Godinic and Kaspar splitting up the Irish may well now be the top pairing in the world.

#1 Nicolas Perez and #2 Harald Wentz both made it to the semifinals; both were stopped there short of the goal though, while their conquerors duked it out for the hardware. That was local fave Ross Vicars, who defeated Tobias Velilla 6-4, 6-4 to grab his first Masters. I thought it would be another year before Vicars got a big trophy and started showing what a terror he's capable of being on the American hardcourts, but he decided to get started a little early here. One of his victims was hard-luck Chisulo Mpakati in a three-tiebreak quarterfinal. (25) Peter de Boer was another candidate for tournament surprise, pushing Velilla to three sets in the final eight after eliminating Jung the previous round. Lucas Perez and Ollie Haas were also predicted losers at that juncture.

4th-ranked Calisto Aviles was a fourth-round loser to Vicars who really tore a path through the top players here. Algot Hakanson also made it the round of 16 (l. Mpakati). In the third round, we said goodbye to Mark Smith (l. L. Perez in three) and Clavet Moniotte who was beaten by rising Russian (30) Ivan Hudobin in another close three-set match. Neither have anything to be ashamed of there. I was thoroughly disgusted throughout the fortnight, and Amrik Kasaravalli managing just five games against Kjaerstad was as good a reason as any. Sushant Chiba has nothing to be ashamed of though, pushing Haas to three sets despite being close to his 33rd birthday after eliminating fellow veteran Rhodes to get there. Tommy Fitzpatrick was yet another victim of Vicars and pushed him to three, and Helmut Edlund was rudely shoved aside by Aviles.

There were yet some who didn't get that far. Nasir Chittoor was upset by one of the more dangerous floaters, Hugo Licona, 6-2, 7-6(5) in the second round. That gives Nasir the dreaded 10-point Masters exit I was hoping to avoid, and frankly he got his butt kicked in a match that he was a slight favorite in. Not good. The upset bug bit Joao Narciso as well, but he has a much better excuse against American Charlie Newnham playing in front of a favorable crowd. We even had a sighting of Mike Corey as a wild-card, but he lost to a qualifier in the first round. Went the distance though.
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