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Old 05-20-2016, 01:48 PM   #361
Brian Swartz
Grizzled Veteran
 
Join Date: May 2006
2045 Wimbledon -- Second Week

The potentially unpredictable business end quickly turned ... well, quite predictable as form held. Iglar sent Gaskell to his typical quarterfinal exit in four sets, and neither of the French players could steal a set from Girsh or Mehul though both, especially Poilblan, made things interesting at times. Benda dropped Caratti's best Wimbledon run to date in four sets, and all four top seeds, last year's semifinalists, were back at it again with the same matchups from a year ago.

Anil Mehul actually had his easiest grass match ever against Benda -- he's won all four of the previous ones, but could easily have lost all four, having served particularly well in their encounters and having three of them go the distance. All have been classics. This one was a four-set affair, competetitive but decisive. The early semi featured Iglar against Girish Girsh, and when they met last year Girsh took only seven games. He had more than that by early in thte second set. Unfortunately this match would be even crueler to him than the loss in the WTC Finals last year. After narrowly losing an epic third-set tiebreaker, he lost another and ultimately came about as close to winning as you can without doing so. The scoreline was 2-6, 6-7(4), 7-6(12), 7-6(5), 7-5 with Iglar pulling it out in another stunning comeback. Girsh slightly outplayed him overall, but the match seemed to turn more and more against him after a big first set, and he was only 5 of 19 overall on break chances compared to 4 of 10 for the Czech. A heck of a match, but at the same time a brutal setback.

So for the third time in four years, it was Antonin Iglar and Anil Mehul for the title. After splitting a pair of lopsided sets things got real in the third. Neither player gave much in the way of chances on their serve. Both held with more difficulty at the end of the set, and got midway through the tiebreak before Mehul snagged a minibreak, only to lose it a couple of points later. He put together a couple good points shortly aftewards though, to seize the momentum and move a set from the title. The fourth set went much the same way until Mehul capitalized on the second of two break points in the ninth game. Serving for the championship, he wilted and double-faulted on break point to level the set again. A couple holds later, it was tiebreak time again and the three-time defending champ was on point here to claim victory. 6-2, 1-6, 7-6(4), 7-6(2)! Nobody in the history of the sport can best his four straight titles here; only Alastra has equaled it.

The second-half break is now upcoming. Dudwadkar will be out there for a couple of events but the other three won't be seen until at least the Canada Masters in a month's time. Wimbledon changed nothing at the top -- everyone did exactly what they did last year, within the Top 4. Same matchups, same results, maintaining the status quo. Rankings updates and a look at the initial Race standings will be incoming soon.

Last edited by Brian Swartz : 05-20-2016 at 01:49 PM.
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