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Shanghai Masters
Our friendly neighborhood down-on-his-luck player Shreya Ujjaval once again repeated last year's results. He qualified, then lost to Andre Herrera in three sets, the first of which was a tight tiebreak that probably could have won him the match. It wasn't a great first round for the Herreras overall though. Agustin lost to Davide Poilblan in one of the best first-round matchups, and Marcelo barely escaped against a qualifier. Bereznity was pushed to 7-5 in the third by Caminha, while Mockler needed a pair of tiebreaks to get by Farkas, but no other seeds fell at the first hurdle.
Thiago Herrera barely escaped Bourdet 7-5 in the third in the next round, Marcek was pushed to a pair of tough sets, M. Herrera again barely survived a qualifier, and Bereznity didn't learn from his trials and was unceremoniously dumped by John Condon of all people. The third round was straight-forward except for one of the biggest surprises of the tournament. Anil Mehul quite clearly outplayed Peter Sampras, but the American saved 12 of 16 break points and stole a tiebreak and nearly the match. 6-7(4), 7-6(4), 6-4 was the final, with Mehul almost getting his week spoiled very early.
Mehul(T. Herrera) and Girsh(Gaskell) handled their opponents in competitive straight-sets wins. The other two quarterfinals were a lot more complicated. Perry Mockler has found a fountain of youth or something, knocking off Benda 7-6(5), 6-2! It's his second Masters semi of the year, but most of the time he's been dismissed early. Iglar needed three sets to dismiss Caratti, who continues to plug away. In the semis Mehul took care of Mockler despite another tough day on the break chances(2 of 9). Hopefully he snaps out of that. In the other one, Iglar put Girish Girsh down a set, but Girsh was relentless on return and came back for a big 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 win! It doesn't erase the USO loss, but it sure is nice. Two out of the last three he's taken, and should have had the middle one. A trend perhaps?
In the all-Sri Lanka final, the first of it's kind in a tournament of this value, Girsh was the better player by a hair -- and lost for the fifth straight time this year. 7-6(6), 6-4. Mehul won both break points he had, and Girsh failed on 6 of 7. Unfortunately for the junior player, this is not just a trend but a clear, repetitive pattern. Anil Mehul has all but locked up the year-end #1 now, taking his 8th Masters Shield and first of 2045.
Elsewhere ...
Prakash Mooljee was at his third tier-1 challenger and first in several months, in Rennes. As the third seed, he was still the clear favorite. It came down to a semifinal against Gael Monfils. The crowd and a bit of an off day for Mooljee were enough to make this match very hazardous. 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 was the final, a comeback win for my guy, and he smashed everyone else to claim is 14th challenger title and first at the tier-1 level. Last year at this time he was suffering the ignominy of a first-round exit at Tiburon, so this is a much better way to spend the week. A quarterfinal in doubles isn't bad either. Mooljee rockets up to 37th in the world now, a new high. He's 135 points back of 32nd place, his goal by the Australian Open. That's still looking a bit unlikely but this was a good step.
Coming Up ...
Jury's still out on whether Mehul and Girsh will defend their Valencia/Swiss titles in a couple weeks. Either way the Paris Masters is next, setting the final field for the Tour Finals which will be held in the Ukraine.
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