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Old 03-05-2016, 02:51 AM   #283
Brian Swartz
Grizzled Veteran
 
Join Date: May 2006
January

Both of our top two heroes needed more matches than usual to perform at their best for the initial Slam of the year, and so there was more on-court action in the interim. Girish Girsh headed out right away to the Qatar Open(2-seed). He easily ripped Federer and Condon en route to the final, where it was a more in-rhythm Cestmir Marcek that opposed him with a 200-point swing on the line(150 to the runner-up). The 8th meeting between the pair, and it's worth noting that despite the fact that Marcek leads in the rankings by better than a thousand points, his win-loss last year doesn't show it. The Czech no. 2 was 64-19, Girsh slightly better at 65-17 including a perfect 3-0 in their encounters after losing the first four. Better seeding and easier matchups by being part of the Top 4 for Marcek are the big difference. Despite the disadvantage in match conditioning, Girsh pulled through 7-5, 7-6(1) in a match that had neither player really taking their chances well.

The next week, he was back at it in Sydney. Same drill really. Pierce Gaskell dropped 6-1, 6-4, and Marcek much more routinely in another final now that Girsh was back on top of his game. A very impressive start to the year has him with a perfect 11-0 record and demonstrating that he is, at worst, 4th best in the world on the hardcourts. The Gaskell match, with the top American basically a near-even match in terms of overall skill and ability, was the most impressive in that regard.

Anil Mehul was in Auckland, where he smashed all comers comprehensively including Mockler in the final. It was his second title there in three years(he didn't play last year). Both times, the rankings were released without giving him credit for the title though!


Coming Up ...

Aside from the ranking snafu, a perfect start to the year. Three players go into the Australian Open unbeaten on the year(Iglar is the third). The form showed by both Sri Lankans was very impressive. A couple of other notes; my plan of having Prakash Mooljee participate for his first Slam has been changed. He could do so, and might be successful, but no good reason not to feast on another Tier-1 futures in Canada where his number of matches is much more guaranteed. Also, I'll be following the fortunes of another countryman not managed by me, as the exploits of Shreya Ujjaval this year will be relevant in terms of the World Team Cup in the long-term, and he's a third wheel in terms of Top 100 Sri Lanka players.

Last edited by Brian Swartz : 03-05-2016 at 02:53 AM.
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