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September
The first week of the 'big finish' came at the Japan Open(500) for Anil Mehul. In order to sustain training effectiveness over what will now be a seven-week offseason for him due to the unpleasantness in the WTC recently, he'll need to play at least four events in five weeks, possibly five straight depending on how they go. Most will probably involve doubles as well. By the end of the Paris Masters in November, he'll need to have overplayed a fair amount. This will probably hurt his results a bit but that isn't as important as going into next year with a full head of steam.
After a couple of easy rounds, he had competitive wins over Kecic and Gaskell to reach the final. Julian Hammerstein, who had just eked out an upset over Benda in the other semifinal, waited there. Another close one was expected, but in this case Mehul took it to his rival with a surprisingly easy 6-3, 6-4 win that saw him lose just a dozen points on serve and fail to suffer a single break chance! This was the fifth meeting between the two, the first coming just over a year ago, and Mehul has now won two and dropped three, 2-1 on hardcourt, winless in two chances on clay both in the WTC.
With the win, he moved up to 13th ahead of the Shanghai Masters, leaping declining veterans Becceril and the incomparable Gorritepe. More than that, it was the first professional tournament title ever for a player from Sri Lanka, a real piece of history, and will certainly serve to offset the points he's going to lose from last year's WTC run. A fine way to back up his USO run and get back on track -- he's looking good heading into the end of the year.
There were good results elsewhere also. Girsh Girsh was in Recife for a small challenger the same week, and he proceeded to brush aside former conqueror Joseph Skirrow 3 and 3 in the final to claim his first challenger-level title and move up to 125th! Skirrow has not been managed as well, and Girsh has legitimately at least equaled him after it looked a year or so ago as if Skirrow would be a major force in his generation. This is a great example of how talent alone can't win by itself -- the right kind of work and training, intelligently pursued, is also required. Skirrow is still a somewhat better athlete, more on Mehul's level in that regard, but Girsh has clearly surpassed him technically.
Prakash Mooljee seems to have played his last tier-5. Yes, I've said that before, but he rattled off another title, aided no doubt by the fact that the event was played in Colombo. It's rare to have a chance to play in front of a Sri Lankan crowd and pretty much only happens in juniors. With the win he's just inside the Top 400 now in juniors and should be seeded in all tier-4 events, allowing him to consistently progress well into the draws. We'll see how that actually plays out.
Titles for all three of the players that are still developing in the same week, a very fine thing to celebrate as we move towards the end of another season. On to Shanghai, where the big question is: can anyone derail the Antonin Iglar express?
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