European ATP clay season 2018

[jaydeep]

Bala and Vishnu r getting big break as they r playing Munich ATP, but having a tough match against local pair, Struff and Puetz ... Purav and Fabrice r also having a tough match against the 2nd seed Rajeev Ram and Dodig.

At €561K BMW Open 2018, Munich, Germany

[R1] N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) vs Tim Puetz (GER)/ Jan-Lennard Struff (GER)
[R1] Fabrice Martin (FRA)/ Puraj Raja (IND) vs (2) Ivan Dodig (CRO)/ Rjeev Ram (USA)

[PKBasu]

At €486K TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open 2018, Turkey

[R1] 2-Divij Sharan (IND)/Marcin Matkowski (POL) d. Radu Albot (MDA)/ Nikoloz Basilashvili (GEO) 75 63

Divij (43) is ranked above Matkowski (45), so it is only right that he should be shown as the senior partner...

[jaydeep]

Next, they r facing experienced Serbian players.

At €486K TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open 2018, Turkey

[QF] (2) Marcin Matkowski POL)/ Divij Sharan (IND) vs Dusan Lajovic (SRB)/ Viktor Troicki (SRB)

[jaydeep]

Purav-Fabrice lost in the match tie-break after winning the first set ... It seems, they failed to keep momentum and intensity after the first set.

At €561K BMW Open 2018, Munich, Germany

[R1] Fabrice Martin (FRA)/ Puraj Raja (IND) l (2) Ivan Dodig (CRO)/ Rjeev Ram (USA) 75 26 6-10

[S_K_S]

Always tough to lose in R1 but the draw hasn't been kind to Purav recently. Tough opponents as they proved.

[bujilover]

At €486K TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open 2018, Turkey

[R1] 2-Divij Sharan (IND)/Marcin Matkowski (POL) d. Radu Albot (MDA)/ Nikoloz Basilashvili (GEO) 75 63

Divij (43) is ranked above Matkowski (45), so it is only right that he should be shown as the senior partner...

If you were referring to the way their names are written in the results, it is with respect to the alphabetical order of their last names (which happens to be the order followed by ATP).

Also, let's not forget that Marcin has been on the grand slam stage for a continuous 15 years and is actually the older and experienced player here. Under your assumption, current rankings do not always determine the seniority preference, if not, one would easily argue Rohan Bopanna is the senior partner in a Rohan Bopanna/Leander Paes pairing.

[PKBasu]

I'm aware of all that. But why should it stand in the way of writing it the way I/we prefer, with the higher-ranked Indian partner mentioned first? There is nothing particularly sacrosanct about having the alphabetical order of last names used; alphabetical order of first names would place Divij ahead too. But the main reason for my post was to celebrate the fact that Divij now has a doubles ranking above the experienced Matkowski.

Loosen up, man, some of you youngsters are too uptight

[bujilover]

Balaji and Vishnu put up a great fight losing the match TB.

At €561K BMW Open 2018, Munich, Germany

[R1] N. Sriram Balaji (IND)/ Vishnu Vardhan (IND) l. Tim Puetz (GER)/ Jan-Lennard Struff (GER), 57 76(5) [5-10]

[PKBasu]

Divij/Marcin are through to the SF after receiving a walkover from Lajovic/Troicki in the QF.

They await the winners of Inglot/Lindstedt vs Skupski/Skupski.

[jaydeep]

Next, they r facing experienced Inglot and Lindstedt.

At €486K TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open 2018, Turkey

[SF] (2) Marcin Matkowski POL)/ Divij Sharan (IND) vs Dominic Inglot (GBR)/ Robert Lindstedt (SWE)

[bujilover]

At €486K TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open 2018, Turkey

[SF] (2) Marcin Matkowski POL)/ Divij Sharan (IND) l. Dominic Inglot (GBR)/ Robert Lindstedt (SWE), 46 62 (4-10)

MTB loss Still a great run with another new partner.

[PKBasu]

Disappointing loss, as they didn't really capitalise on the walkover in the previous round.

[jaydeep]

In the doubles, Rohan-Edouard r seeded and they have a bye in the first round.

At €7.1M Mutua Madrid Masters 2018, Spain

[Q1] Ramkumar Ramanathan (IND,120) l (4) Pierre-Hugues Herbert (FRA,74) 46 36

Doubles
[R1] (8) Rohan Bopanna (IND)/ Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA) bye

[bujilover]

Sad to see Divij missing another masters, but of course he would have made it if not for those 8 meaningless BYES given to the top 8 seeds. I hope he considered entering the $125K Challenger in France.

[bujilover]

Fabrice Martin and Purav Raja are seeded first in the Bordeaux doubles draw. And looks like Divij has given up playing challengers.