|
Rome Masters
One and done again for Shreya Ujjaval, another fairly unkind draw as he lost in straight sets to Marcelo Herrera. Mockler bowed out in the first round and several other seeds nearly did -- Marcek, McCuskey, Trulsen, and Poilblan all narrowly avoided early exits. There were more close matches in the second round but once again the favorites moved on. Benda, Bourdet, Poilblan, McCuskey, and Gaskell all had close calls. None more so than Girish Girsh, who was fortunate not to be M. Herrera's second Sri Lankan victim in as many rounds, just escaping 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(4). Both players broke twice, but Girsh only had two chances while the Peruvian had seven. Objectively, he probably should have lost this one.
Last week's darling Agustin Herrera met his end in the third round in a surprisingly one-sided loss to Kinczllers. No match at this stage went the distance, and the lone upset was Cestmir Marcek over Thiago Herrera. In the quarterfinals, Anil Mehul lost what was an even matchup going in against Mugur Kinczllers, 6-4, 6-4. He was pretty badly outplayed here, and this won't go down as one of his better weeks. Everything was straightforward elsewhere, and the rest of the draw was happy to see Caratti knock out Benda so that they wouldn't have to deal with him.
Both semifinals were quite close. Antonin Iglar edged Kinczllers 6-4 in the third, while Girsh shocked Gustavo Caratti in a comeback 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 win! The Argentine was a bit tired by this point which was a factor, but it was still stunning given that he'd won the last three big tournaments on clay. The match was as even as even can be, but Girsh was bigger in the key moments as he had been in his first match of the week, and it was just enough. Unfortunately that didn't carry through to the final, where he lost 7-6(6), 7-5 to Iglar. Serving for the second set at 5-3, Girsh fell apart in a match where he was slightly favored even without considering that he'd won five straight against the Czech legend. It's Iglar's first Masters title in nearly a year, and if the sleeping giant is beginning to awake it could really complicate the rest of the year.
Coming Up ...
Mooljee will be playing his first 250-level event next week, seeking to ensure himself a seed at Roland Garros. After his loss here, Caratti does not seem like such a sure favorite anymore, and Iglar has strengthened his grip on the #3 spot considerably. Lots of questioned to be answered when the year's second Slam rolls around in a couple of weeks.
|