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Brian Swartz · 02-05-2016, 07:08 PM

2043 French Open

Girish Girsh had surprisingly testy first-rounder, which can happen on clay, this one against Portuguese veteran Xavier Caminha. He had to survive a tiebreak before moving on 7-6(5), 6-3, 6-3. Mehul had no such issues, and both players advanced through the next couple of rounds very easily and routinely.

Girsh met up with 9th-seeded Hogue, a phrase which by itself shows how far the American has fallen. The match did as well, with a final-set bagel ending his dismissal in straight sets. There were three epic five-setters in the round, and one of them involved Mehul. After leading by a set twice, he was shocked by Peru's Marcelo Herrera in the upset of the tournament, 3-6, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4, 6-2. It was, as the score indicates, an up-and-down match, and a stunning one as the 15th-seeded Herrera had shown no signs previously. For the first time, Girsh advanced further than Mehul. It was also the first time Anil had failed to reach the quarterfinal stage of a Slam in exactly two years; last year he made the semis here.
It was a close match, but the proper result; he just got out-grinded. Rather shocking really considering how well he'd played coming in and the first three rounds.

Girsh went on to another meeting with Iglar, who unceremoniously dumped him aside 6-4, 6-1, 6-1, clearly reaching his best claycourt tennis at the right stage and winning over half of his return points. So that was that, but still a round further than Girsh had made it last year.

Benda went on to beat Iglar in straight sets and reached the final without losing one. On the other side, Herrera continued through, straight-setting Gaskell and nearly taking out Marcek who reached his first final, 7-5 in the fifth over the upstart Peruvian. It was a career-making event for both players. And there would be more surprises in the final. Bjorn Benda's championship mettle was on display and he needed every bit of it, rallying from a two-set deficit to take a pair of tough tiebreaks and pull out the title, 6-7(5), 2-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(6), 6-2. A really tough moment for Marcek, one I can identify with as Mehul suffered a similar comeback last year here against the German. Benda was objectively probably outplayed slightly, but really turned it around after the second set and would not be denied.

In other News ...

While all of that was playing out, Prakash Mooljee was surprisingly seeded 8th in his first futures event(Tier-3), but had a tough 7-5, 6-4 match that he survived in the first round. From there it was a relative cruise, knocking off the third and second seeds en route to a final against unseeded Hungarian Laszlo Fazekas. Fazekas is one of those players who is all rally and no serve, which lended itself to a very unusual, unbalanced match. Mooljee had 22 aces, Fazekas not a one and 18 double faults ... yet he almost pulled it off, since he had the upper hand by far whenever the serve didn't decide the point. Mooljee prevailed though, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(4), taking his first futures title at the first time of asking. It's just days shy of his 19th birthday, a few months ahead of Girsh and several ahead of Mehul in getting to that point. He's up now to 709th, just about exactly a 200-spot rise, and more will definitely be coming. He may in fact move up a tier but will have several weeks to consider that. So far it's nothing but smooth progress since turning pro.

Coming Up ...

Everybody is off until at least Wimbledon, starting in three weeks.

02-05-2016, 07:08 PM	#249
Brian Swartz Grizzled Veteran Join Date: May 2006	2043 French Open Girish Girsh had surprisingly testy first-rounder, which can happen on clay, this one against Portuguese veteran Xavier Caminha. He had to survive a tiebreak before moving on 7-6(5), 6-3, 6-3. Mehul had no such issues, and both players advanced through the next couple of rounds very easily and routinely. Girsh met up with 9th-seeded Hogue, a phrase which by itself shows how far the American has fallen. The match did as well, with a final-set bagel ending his dismissal in straight sets. There were three epic five-setters in the round, and one of them involved Mehul. After leading by a set twice, he was shocked by Peru's Marcelo Herrera in the upset of the tournament, 3-6, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4, 6-2. It was, as the score indicates, an up-and-down match, and a stunning one as the 15th-seeded Herrera had shown no signs previously. For the first time, Girsh advanced further than Mehul. It was also the first time Anil had failed to reach the quarterfinal stage of a Slam in exactly two years; last year he made the semis here. It was a close match, but the proper result; he just got out-grinded. Rather shocking really considering how well he'd played coming in and the first three rounds. Girsh went on to another meeting with Iglar, who unceremoniously dumped him aside 6-4, 6-1, 6-1, clearly reaching his best claycourt tennis at the right stage and winning over half of his return points. So that was that, but still a round further than Girsh had made it last year. Benda went on to beat Iglar in straight sets and reached the final without losing one. On the other side, Herrera continued through, straight-setting Gaskell and nearly taking out Marcek who reached his first final, 7-5 in the fifth over the upstart Peruvian. It was a career-making event for both players. And there would be more surprises in the final. Bjorn Benda's championship mettle was on display and he needed every bit of it, rallying from a two-set deficit to take a pair of tough tiebreaks and pull out the title, 6-7(5), 2-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(6), 6-2. A really tough moment for Marcek, one I can identify with as Mehul suffered a similar comeback last year here against the German. Benda was objectively probably outplayed slightly, but really turned it around after the second set and would not be denied. In other News ... While all of that was playing out, Prakash Mooljee was surprisingly seeded 8th in his first futures event(Tier-3), but had a tough 7-5, 6-4 match that he survived in the first round. From there it was a relative cruise, knocking off the third and second seeds en route to a final against unseeded Hungarian Laszlo Fazekas. Fazekas is one of those players who is all rally and no serve, which lended itself to a very unusual, unbalanced match. Mooljee had 22 aces, Fazekas not a one and 18 double faults ... yet he almost pulled it off, since he had the upper hand by far whenever the serve didn't decide the point. Mooljee prevailed though, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(4), taking his first futures title at the first time of asking. It's just days shy of his 19th birthday, a few months ahead of Girsh and several ahead of Mehul in getting to that point. He's up now to 709th, just about exactly a 200-spot rise, and more will definitely be coming. He may in fact move up a tier but will have several weeks to consider that. So far it's nothing but smooth progress since turning pro. Coming Up ... Everybody is off until at least Wimbledon, starting in three weeks.