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Brian Swartz · 10-25-2015, 08:36 PM

The last week of the break, Girish Girsh headed off to the UNICEF Open(250), his first tournament at that level. As the 4th seed, he expected to go fairly deep ... but was stunned 7-5, 7-6(2) in the opener by Ignacio Ortiz(ARG, 51st). Relative to reasonable expectations, it might well be the worst loss of Girsh's career; certainly it's the worst in the last couple of years. Ortiz is strong both physically and mentally, but not a grass specialist and technically speaking there is a considerable gap between them. It's a match Girsh should win at least 9 out of ten times, but he just really laid an egg here. It's a crummy way to go into the most prestigious tournament in the world, and practically speaking it was worse than just taking a practice week. No points gained, and he had to scramble to find remotely useful friendly matches for preparation.

Wimbledon

And so it was that both Mehul and Girsh needed to enter doubles in order to get their match levels up. They decided to play together -- and actually did a bit too well, not only making it through qualifiying but also winning one match in the main draw before going out in the second. This vaulted both into the Top 100 in doubles, but also swung the pendulum to the other side of being a bit overplayed. It's hard to find the right balance sometimes.

Girsh had himself a nice stroll through the first couple of matches, notably flattening up-and-coming hopeful Garreth McKuskey(USA) in the second round. David Alvarez loomed in the third, and he's really not all that special off of clay. Girsh thought himself to have a real chance, even if still an underdog, going in. Alvarez had his serve going well though, allowing just 13 points against it for a 6-3, 6-3, 7-6(3) decision. Competitive, but still Girsh looks for his first Top 10 win. A third third-round Slam result on the year shows a consistency that will eventually pay bigger dividends.

Anil Mehul had his path cleared with the good fortune to be in the same section as the shell of Mick Elder. In the first week the only seed he faced was Marcelo Herrera, and he surrendered only a half-dozen games. Quickly he moved on to his first-ever quarterfinal appearance here against Evgeni Topolski, feeling good about himself after a bit of an upset against Hogue. The Russian's serve was just good enough to keep him in it, but Mehul was clearly the better and proved it in a pair of closing tiebreaks, 6-3, 5-7, 7-6(4), 7-6(10). Tense, but a clear victor.

The semifinals found him a bit weary, and going up against Iglar. A quick result was feared, but this was not peak Iglar that showed up. The early tiebreaks went against Mehul, but he showed great fight to rally and eventually forced a classic finish. 7-6(1), 7-6(4), 6-7(2), 3-6, 10-8 was the final, an epic match that in fact he probably should have won. He put a little more consistent pressure on the Czech's service games than he himself endured, but at the most vital moments the world no. 1 was just good enough. Both players had identical 2 of 13 conversion rates on break points, leaving plenty of opportunities on the court.

Although he made the final back in Australia, this was the closest Mehul has yet come to a Slam title. The other finalist was Almagro, who he had beaten on grass in another 10-8 5th set earlier in the year. It's one of those frustrating epics where you stare at the scoreboard for a long time after it's over, not quite believing you came up short. Twice Iglar rallied from a set down, and had to go a bit further before stopping Almagro 11-9 in the 5th set of the final. Despite that, it required some 86 fewer points than the 451 in the semifinal. No question that he earned his first Wimbledon title, but Mehul had been so very close to a chance to claim it. How many more chances that good, if any, will he get to a chance at the brass ring?

There were many surprises, beginning with defending champion Bjorn Benda being stunned back in the 4th round by Goncharenko, the titlist here two years ago. Alvarez reached the quarters after failing to ever get past the third round previously, and fast-rising Marcel Bahana had his second Slam quarter on the heels of the first in Roland Garros. Meanwhile, David Almagro turned back the clock to make the final despite being closer to 31 than 30 years old. He's had quite the renaissance these last couple of years.

10-25-2015, 08:36 PM	#172
Brian Swartz Grizzled Veteran Join Date: May 2006	The last week of the break, Girish Girsh headed off to the UNICEF Open(250), his first tournament at that level. As the 4th seed, he expected to go fairly deep ... but was stunned 7-5, 7-6(2) in the opener by Ignacio Ortiz(ARG, 51st). Relative to reasonable expectations, it might well be the worst loss of Girsh's career; certainly it's the worst in the last couple of years. Ortiz is strong both physically and mentally, but not a grass specialist and technically speaking there is a considerable gap between them. It's a match Girsh should win at least 9 out of ten times, but he just really laid an egg here. It's a crummy way to go into the most prestigious tournament in the world, and practically speaking it was worse than just taking a practice week. No points gained, and he had to scramble to find remotely useful friendly matches for preparation. Wimbledon And so it was that both Mehul and Girsh needed to enter doubles in order to get their match levels up. They decided to play together -- and actually did a bit too well, not only making it through qualifiying but also winning one match in the main draw before going out in the second. This vaulted both into the Top 100 in doubles, but also swung the pendulum to the other side of being a bit overplayed. It's hard to find the right balance sometimes. Girsh had himself a nice stroll through the first couple of matches, notably flattening up-and-coming hopeful Garreth McKuskey(USA) in the second round. David Alvarez loomed in the third, and he's really not all that special off of clay. Girsh thought himself to have a real chance, even if still an underdog, going in. Alvarez had his serve going well though, allowing just 13 points against it for a 6-3, 6-3, 7-6(3) decision. Competitive, but still Girsh looks for his first Top 10 win. A third third-round Slam result on the year shows a consistency that will eventually pay bigger dividends. Anil Mehul had his path cleared with the good fortune to be in the same section as the shell of Mick Elder. In the first week the only seed he faced was Marcelo Herrera, and he surrendered only a half-dozen games. Quickly he moved on to his first-ever quarterfinal appearance here against Evgeni Topolski, feeling good about himself after a bit of an upset against Hogue. The Russian's serve was just good enough to keep him in it, but Mehul was clearly the better and proved it in a pair of closing tiebreaks, 6-3, 5-7, 7-6(4), 7-6(10). Tense, but a clear victor. The semifinals found him a bit weary, and going up against Iglar. A quick result was feared, but this was not peak Iglar that showed up. The early tiebreaks went against Mehul, but he showed great fight to rally and eventually forced a classic finish. 7-6(1), 7-6(4), 6-7(2), 3-6, 10-8 was the final, an epic match that in fact he probably should have won. He put a little more consistent pressure on the Czech's service games than he himself endured, but at the most vital moments the world no. 1 was just good enough. Both players had identical 2 of 13 conversion rates on break points, leaving plenty of opportunities on the court. Although he made the final back in Australia, this was the closest Mehul has yet come to a Slam title. The other finalist was Almagro, who he had beaten on grass in another 10-8 5th set earlier in the year. It's one of those frustrating epics where you stare at the scoreboard for a long time after it's over, not quite believing you came up short. Twice Iglar rallied from a set down, and had to go a bit further before stopping Almagro 11-9 in the 5th set of the final. Despite that, it required some 86 fewer points than the 451 in the semifinal. No question that he earned his first Wimbledon title, but Mehul had been so very close to a chance to claim it. How many more chances that good, if any, will he get to a chance at the brass ring? There were many surprises, beginning with defending champion Bjorn Benda being stunned back in the 4th round by Goncharenko, the titlist here two years ago. Alvarez reached the quarters after failing to ever get past the third round previously, and fast-rising Marcel Bahana had his second Slam quarter on the heels of the first in Roland Garros. Meanwhile, David Almagro turned back the clock to make the final despite being closer to 31 than 30 years old. He's had quite the renaissance these last couple of years.