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Brian Swartz · 08-16-2016, 10:28 PM

Indian Wells Masters

Shyam Senepathy made a quick exit, losing to a German qualifier in three sets in his first match. The other four Sri Lankans all had a bye, and easily took care of their opponents in the second round. In fact, all of the seeds won at this stage, though there were a couple of close calls. The third round got a lot more testy, but most of the favorites still prevailed. Not all did though. Shreya Ujjaval came up short against Trulsen, 7-6(3), 4-6, 6-2, but it was a quality effort. Benda, McCuskey, Kinczllers, and a pair of the Herreras all were pushed hard before getting through. Fabricio Gilardino took advantage of the partisan crowd to get past Marcek, 7-6(1), 6-1, while Mooljee knocked off 14th-seeded Tobia Alberti, 6-3, 6-4, to move on as well.

In the fourth round, Anil Mehul put an abrupt ending to Prakash Mooljee's tournament, 6-0, 6-3. This was a disappointing result; Mooljee has developed enough to where he ought to be slightly favored here. Losing would be quite understandable, but not like this; he won less than half of his service points, dropping all four break points against him and all of his chances against the Mehul serve as well. He's clearly lost his confidence in being able to beat strong players at this point. Nothing to do but soldier on, but this year is not going well for him at all. Garreth McCuskey staged another three-set win, this time over Gaskell, while Benda had yet another early exit. Gustavo Caratti narrowly snuck by Federer in a tight third-set tiebreak. The old guard continues to fade away.

Girish Girsh was pushed to a third set for the first time in the quarterfinals, but continued his perfect start to the year. The match of the round was Mehul against Mugur Kinczllers; after splitting a pair of tiebreaks, Mehul edged past him in the third set, weathering 22 aces along the way. He's won 12 of 14 against the Italian, who would move up once again to a personal-best-tying 5th after the tournament despite the loss.

For what seems like the umpteenth time in a row, the Big 4 all moved into the semifinals once again. Girsh, still not quite in his best form, had just enough to get past Caratti in straight sets, while Mehul and Antonin Iglar had a classic in their 50th(no, that's not a typo) meeting. It was a tight one, and Mehul had the edge just by a hair ... but the Czech legend came up with the goods in the tiebreaks and snuck into the final narrowly, 7-6(4), 4-6, 7-6(3). A tough loss for Anil, as so many have been in this matchup over the years.

Girsh and Mehul squared off then in another match with the top ranking on the line. With 20 straight wins to start the year, Girsh came in as the favorite but got a rude awakening in being dismissed in straight sets. He won just nine points on Iglar's serve, and was fortunate the 6-3, 6-4 scoreline wasn't much worse. This was a shellacking. For the time being, Girsh's reign at the top is done(33 weeks). Meanwhile Iglar ties Sullivan for second all-time in Masters Shields with 32. That's not something you see happen every day. He's only about nine months younger than Gorritepe's record for the oldest man to win a Masters ... we'll see if he's still able to keep things going this time next year. For now though, at least, he's back on top.

Coming Up ...

We'll do it all over again in Miami. Prakash Mooljee has not gained any points since the start of the year, but the gap to him joining the Top 16 has narrowed to just 70 points as the aging vets ahead of him decline. More than ever, all he needs to one good tournament to make a bit of a jump ...

08-16-2016, 10:28 PM	#468
Brian Swartz Grizzled Veteran Join Date: May 2006	Indian Wells Masters Shyam Senepathy made a quick exit, losing to a German qualifier in three sets in his first match. The other four Sri Lankans all had a bye, and easily took care of their opponents in the second round. In fact, all of the seeds won at this stage, though there were a couple of close calls. The third round got a lot more testy, but most of the favorites still prevailed. Not all did though. Shreya Ujjaval came up short against Trulsen, 7-6(3), 4-6, 6-2, but it was a quality effort. Benda, McCuskey, Kinczllers, and a pair of the Herreras all were pushed hard before getting through. Fabricio Gilardino took advantage of the partisan crowd to get past Marcek, 7-6(1), 6-1, while Mooljee knocked off 14th-seeded Tobia Alberti, 6-3, 6-4, to move on as well. In the fourth round, Anil Mehul put an abrupt ending to Prakash Mooljee's tournament, 6-0, 6-3. This was a disappointing result; Mooljee has developed enough to where he ought to be slightly favored here. Losing would be quite understandable, but not like this; he won less than half of his service points, dropping all four break points against him and all of his chances against the Mehul serve as well. He's clearly lost his confidence in being able to beat strong players at this point. Nothing to do but soldier on, but this year is not going well for him at all. Garreth McCuskey staged another three-set win, this time over Gaskell, while Benda had yet another early exit. Gustavo Caratti narrowly snuck by Federer in a tight third-set tiebreak. The old guard continues to fade away. Girish Girsh was pushed to a third set for the first time in the quarterfinals, but continued his perfect start to the year. The match of the round was Mehul against Mugur Kinczllers; after splitting a pair of tiebreaks, Mehul edged past him in the third set, weathering 22 aces along the way. He's won 12 of 14 against the Italian, who would move up once again to a personal-best-tying 5th after the tournament despite the loss. For what seems like the umpteenth time in a row, the Big 4 all moved into the semifinals once again. Girsh, still not quite in his best form, had just enough to get past Caratti in straight sets, while Mehul and Antonin Iglar had a classic in their 50th(no, that's not a typo) meeting. It was a tight one, and Mehul had the edge just by a hair ... but the Czech legend came up with the goods in the tiebreaks and snuck into the final narrowly, 7-6(4), 4-6, 7-6(3). A tough loss for Anil, as so many have been in this matchup over the years. Girsh and Mehul squared off then in another match with the top ranking on the line. With 20 straight wins to start the year, Girsh came in as the favorite but got a rude awakening in being dismissed in straight sets. He won just nine points on Iglar's serve, and was fortunate the 6-3, 6-4 scoreline wasn't much worse. This was a shellacking. For the time being, Girsh's reign at the top is done(33 weeks). Meanwhile Iglar ties Sullivan for second all-time in Masters Shields with 32. That's not something you see happen every day. He's only about nine months younger than Gorritepe's record for the oldest man to win a Masters ... we'll see if he's still able to keep things going this time next year. For now though, at least, he's back on top. Coming Up ... We'll do it all over again in Miami. Prakash Mooljee has not gained any points since the start of the year, but the gap to him joining the Top 16 has narrowed to just 70 points as the aging vets ahead of him decline. More than ever, all he needs to one good tournament to make a bit of a jump ...