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Old 04-19-2016, 03:52 PM   #314
Brian Swartz
Grizzled Veteran
 
Join Date: May 2006
World Tour Finals
Trondheim, Norway

Group A

Anil Mehul and Bjorn Benda got the better end of the stick at least by rankings, going up against the last two players in the field, Pierce Gaskell and Thiago Herrera. Benda's improbable Paris Masters title a few weeks ago nothwithstanding, he laid a complete egg here and did not win so much as a set. Mehul didn't lose one, while the second semifinal spot was decided on the last day with Gaskell surviving against Herrera 6-7(10), 7-5, 6-3 to get through the round-robin stage for the third straight year in which he was not favored to do so. He must just like the Tour Finals for some reason.


Group B

Girish Girsh blazed through the second group, even knocking off Iglar in a fairly easy three-set encounter. The world #1 needed the full distance to escape the ignominy of being knocked out early, edging Radek Smitala 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 in another third-day nail-biter. Marcek went down pretty easily in all of his matches. It might be his last rodeo here.


Semifinals

I felt confident after all this that one of Sri Lanka's players would take home the title. Girsh did not face a single break point in claiming his fifth straight win over Gaskell, 6-2, 6-4. Mehul and Iglar staged a classic in their 36th meeting, a frustrating 7-6(7), 7-6(7) defeat in which Anil had his chances in both breakers and deserved at least a third set. He narrowly won the points comparison 97-95 and more consistently pressured the legend's serve. Both players defended themselves well, with the server taking 9 of 11 combined break points, and Iglar moved on by the narrowest of margins. It was just a point here, a point there from an all-Sri Lanka championship match.

Finals

Antonin Iglar comes in having lost two indoors matches in the last month to Girish Girsh. Unfortunately this time he blasted Girsh badly, 6-2, 6-4, leaving Sri Lanka's 'junior' star one match short of a big title once again. For Iglar, he becomes the 5th player to win the Tour Finals three times after being defeated by Mehul the last couple of seasons.


Elsewhere ...

Prakash Mooljee's final event of the year was another Tier-3 in Cancun. It was pretty much the usual, he lost in his first doubles match and took his 7th challenger title of the last eight months. It wasn't all easy though; US wildcard Patrick Brewer pushed him to a tiebreak in the semifinals, and top-seeded Ricardo Fagundez of Paraguay gave him a 7-5, 6-3 battle in the final. Mooljee won without losing a set though, and should settle somewhere in the low 70s in the rankings at the end of the year. 50-4 isn't as impressive as 52-1 last season but it's still awfully good; he'll be taking another step up in competition next year though.


Coming Up ...

Mehul and Girsh will be fresher and looking for revenge on Iglar at the World Team Cup Final to end the season. Can't think of a better way to finish off the year.
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