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Brian Swartz · 11-09-2017, 09:02 PM

Rome

Mehul/Kroese bounce back again with a better showing than last week. Easily they took down the #2 seeds in the quarters, resulting in close loss to #4s Podkopayev/Cordovez in the semis. 12-10 in the super tiebreak ... doesn't get much tighter than that. A point or two from the final there. Shyam Senepathy qualified again, but ran into Varas, one of the more dangerous floaters lately. A bagel and a breadstick later, he was on his way out and quickly.

Jake Jolland narrowly survived a qualifier's challenge, but all the seeds safely got through their first hurdle. Alexey Nikitin had himself a decent tournament, getting one win and throwing a scare into Panter before falling 6-4, 7-6(5) in the second round. Andres Varas worked his magic again, dropping Teng at that stage, while Johnny Browne had a horrible 6-2, 6-2 defeat to countryman Cone. 15th-ranked Espinoza also left early. Two Top-10 players gone already. On to the third round, and Varas claimed another scalp(Rosenberg, who won just four games). [b]Guus Dircx[b] had himself another disaster, falling to Benno Duhr. And Prakash Mooljee went out to clay veteran Kronecker, 6-4, 6-4. Really not that bad a result all things considered, until you see the details and realize that he did basically nothing on return. Zarco came very close to losing to Schmucker, which would have been a shocking result.

Only half the expected players made it to the quarterfinals. Low seeds Duhr and Piazzola joined non-seeds Duhr and Varas along with the notables. Martin Zarco showed that his poor play in the previous round was no mirage, getting lasted 1 & 2 by Kaspar. Not an inspiring showing for him here. Varas had the same line against Kronecker, while Ruben Piazzola wins the door prize with at 7-5, 6-2 of the Austrian Duhr. Match of the day was the last one, Fangio going up against Ritwik Dudwadkar. A poor second set by Dudwadkar sent it to a decider, which he ultimately edged in a tiebreak. That breaks a string of three straight defeats to the Italian, but he's 3-0 against him on clay(1-7 everywhere else). Each of those clay victories has gone the distance though.

Sigmund Kronecker was the first to take a set off Kaspar in a while, falling 6-1, 6-7(4), 6-4 in a first semi that was quite good after the first set. Piazzola had his series with Dudwadkar knotted at 3-all, failing to dent Ritwik's serve in three attempts. This gave another opportunity at Mateo Kaspar, the king of everything. Already the 5th meeting of the year. It started well but went the way of the other four, 5-7, 6-1, 6-4. Kaspar definitely showed some vulnerability here, but he once again got through to another title. It's not foregone that he wins RG though. Likely ... but he was offered resistance in the final two rounds.

A big run here for Dudwadkar who narrowly moves up to a career-best of #3. He may well not stay there, but it's quite helpful for him to get a draw that will avoid the top players until the semifinal round.

11-09-2017, 09:02 PM	#702
Brian Swartz Grizzled Veteran Join Date: May 2006	Rome Mehul/Kroese bounce back again with a better showing than last week. Easily they took down the #2 seeds in the quarters, resulting in close loss to #4s Podkopayev/Cordovez in the semis. 12-10 in the super tiebreak ... doesn't get much tighter than that. A point or two from the final there. Shyam Senepathy qualified again, but ran into Varas, one of the more dangerous floaters lately. A bagel and a breadstick later, he was on his way out and quickly. Jake Jolland narrowly survived a qualifier's challenge, but all the seeds safely got through their first hurdle. Alexey Nikitin had himself a decent tournament, getting one win and throwing a scare into Panter before falling 6-4, 7-6(5) in the second round. Andres Varas worked his magic again, dropping Teng at that stage, while Johnny Browne had a horrible 6-2, 6-2 defeat to countryman Cone. 15th-ranked Espinoza also left early. Two Top-10 players gone already. On to the third round, and Varas claimed another scalp(Rosenberg, who won just four games). [b]Guus Dircx[b] had himself another disaster, falling to Benno Duhr. And Prakash Mooljee went out to clay veteran Kronecker, 6-4, 6-4. Really not that bad a result all things considered, until you see the details and realize that he did basically nothing on return. Zarco came very close to losing to Schmucker, which would have been a shocking result. Only half the expected players made it to the quarterfinals. Low seeds Duhr and Piazzola joined non-seeds Duhr and Varas along with the notables. Martin Zarco showed that his poor play in the previous round was no mirage, getting lasted 1 & 2 by Kaspar. Not an inspiring showing for him here. Varas had the same line against Kronecker, while Ruben Piazzola wins the door prize with at 7-5, 6-2 of the Austrian Duhr. Match of the day was the last one, Fangio going up against Ritwik Dudwadkar. A poor second set by Dudwadkar sent it to a decider, which he ultimately edged in a tiebreak. That breaks a string of three straight defeats to the Italian, but he's 3-0 against him on clay(1-7 everywhere else). Each of those clay victories has gone the distance though. Sigmund Kronecker was the first to take a set off Kaspar in a while, falling 6-1, 6-7(4), 6-4 in a first semi that was quite good after the first set. Piazzola had his series with Dudwadkar knotted at 3-all, failing to dent Ritwik's serve in three attempts. This gave another opportunity at Mateo Kaspar, the king of everything. Already the 5th meeting of the year. It started well but went the way of the other four, 5-7, 6-1, 6-4. Kaspar definitely showed some vulnerability here, but he once again got through to another title. It's not foregone that he wins RG though. Likely ... but he was offered resistance in the final two rounds. A big run here for Dudwadkar who narrowly moves up to a career-best of #3. He may well not stay there, but it's quite helpful for him to get a draw that will avoid the top players until the semifinal round.