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Brian Swartz · 09-08-2015, 01:47 AM

July/August

The month following Wimbledon is always a slow time of recuperating for the top players after having two slams in a similar time frame in the late spring/early summer period. For Anil Mehul it picked up again a week later than last year, at the Washington 500. The field was very strong for a 500-level event; too strong, as most of them were overplaying and shouldn't really have entered here. After an easy win, he met up with Mikaila Groeneveldt(NLD, 17th) who he hadn't faced since juniors. Both meetings there were losses on clay, but this time he won a competitive straight-sets encounter. Perry Hogue flattened him 6-3, 6-2 in the quarters, a disappointing showing in that match despite Hogue being one of the guys who had a lot more match practice coming in and probably should have skipped this event. Mehul had hoped to get another match or two in here -- he was a semifinalist last year in a weaker field -- and will play doubles next week in Canada to get himself prepared for hopefully making a decent run there and at Cincinatti.

Girish Girsh had a tier-1 challenger in Cordoba, making the semis before losing in a close one to eventual champion Milan Farkas, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4. It was close enough that it really could have gone either way, and I actually would say Girsh is slightly the better player right now. Farkas hovers around 50th and it was exactly the kind of match he needs to start winning more often than not to take the next step in his career. Close, but not quite there on this day.

That was a couple weeks ago, and next week he'll head to Beijing where he was a semi-finalist last year. It's a great week for challengers as the best players are all at the Canada Masters, while there are four events -- two Tier-1, two Tier-2 -- available for those who don't participate. There's a definite opportunity here to potentially snag a title.

Prakash Mooljee still hasn't lost a singles match this year. It was more of the same for him with a Tier-4 title the second week of Wimbledon which I may have already mentioned, and his next tournament will also be during Canada next week.

09-08-2015, 01:47 AM	#123
Brian Swartz Grizzled Veteran Join Date: May 2006	July/August The month following Wimbledon is always a slow time of recuperating for the top players after having two slams in a similar time frame in the late spring/early summer period. For Anil Mehul it picked up again a week later than last year, at the Washington 500. The field was very strong for a 500-level event; too strong, as most of them were overplaying and shouldn't really have entered here. After an easy win, he met up with Mikaila Groeneveldt(NLD, 17th) who he hadn't faced since juniors. Both meetings there were losses on clay, but this time he won a competitive straight-sets encounter. Perry Hogue flattened him 6-3, 6-2 in the quarters, a disappointing showing in that match despite Hogue being one of the guys who had a lot more match practice coming in and probably should have skipped this event. Mehul had hoped to get another match or two in here -- he was a semifinalist last year in a weaker field -- and will play doubles next week in Canada to get himself prepared for hopefully making a decent run there and at Cincinatti. Girish Girsh had a tier-1 challenger in Cordoba, making the semis before losing in a close one to eventual champion Milan Farkas, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4. It was close enough that it really could have gone either way, and I actually would say Girsh is slightly the better player right now. Farkas hovers around 50th and it was exactly the kind of match he needs to start winning more often than not to take the next step in his career. Close, but not quite there on this day. That was a couple weeks ago, and next week he'll head to Beijing where he was a semi-finalist last year. It's a great week for challengers as the best players are all at the Canada Masters, while there are four events -- two Tier-1, two Tier-2 -- available for those who don't participate. There's a definite opportunity here to potentially snag a title. Prakash Mooljee still hasn't lost a singles match this year. It was more of the same for him with a Tier-4 title the second week of Wimbledon which I may have already mentioned, and his next tournament will also be during Canada next week.