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Miami Masters
There was one missing link from the quarterfinal round this time: Ale Ballok lost to rising young player Dominic Stricker, who then was beaten by (11) Raul Ramirez. So Ramirez joins an otherwise intact group at the business end of the tournament.
Ramirez was one of two blowouts in the final eight, courtesy of Faille; Polychroniadis smacked Jochen Weigle 6-1, 6-4 in the other. Both Cananis - to Toni Bardales - and Xanthos - to Solitris Papadias - lost a set in their matches before eventually pulling through. That left a pristine semifinal round with the top four seeds. Xanthos-Cananis was a heck of a match, 6-3, 6-7 (5), 7-6(3). It seems almost automatic that Renke Cananis will win the tight ones, and he almost always does, but a nice comeback here by Xanthos to make him work very hard for it. In the second match, it was a repeat of last year's result at the same stage; Leon Polychroniadis had beaten Ben Faille in four matches in a row since then, but there must be something about the Miami courts because Faille got him again in three sets to reach the final.
Another close one, this time in two, allowed Cananis to claim another Masters Shield. He retains his spot uninterrupted at #1, and Faille has a nice bounce-back result after a mild disappointment in IW.
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