|
Wimbledon
Just as everybody - by which I mean nobody - predicted, John Hart not only repeated as Wimbledon champion, he did so without losing a set. Fourth title for him there and first time he's managed to defend. As usual, there was a surprise, with (14) Tim de Jong being the final opponent. de Jong ended the push of #1 Nicolas Perez in the semis, stopping the Argentine at least for now from claiming all four Slams at the same time. On the other side, Emilien Mathou was perhaps the toughest opponent Hart faced the whole fortnight; 7-6(2), 7-5, 7-6(4) in that semi. This despite needing a 10-8 5th set for the Frenchman to get out of the third round. .
Third-ranked Wentz had a second straight 4th-round exit here - though he went the distance against de Jong - while Mpakati and Haas departed in the quarterfinals. Ollie Haas, a finalist last year, was a big hurdle for Perez to get by and he looked strong at that point before the Dutch surprise was sprung. Ali Solberg and, surprisingly enough, Calisto Aviles were the other two among the final eight.
There were some low seeds who made nice runs as well. American Gregory Gulley and Russian Andrey Rublev, 30th and 31st respectively, both made the round of 16. Gulley got there in a 5-set epic struggle over Hughes, Rublev in a win over Molyneaux that was almost as long. Il-Sung Jung, always unpredictable, came in 8th but was knocked out by (20) Tobias Velilla, 11-9 in a 3rd-round decider.
My guys went according to plan, which was third round for both. Sushant Chiba's loss to Hart doesn't look too terrible in retrospect, while Amrik Kasaravalli made it one round further than last year before a four-set defeat against Lucas Perez. You just can't get away from the Argentinians. Amrik won the first set, but the turning point seemed to be an epic tiebreak in the second, ultimately lost 12-10. After that, it wasn't nearly as close.
|