1 Response to ao02johansson_safin

1. Voo de Mar says:

   February 18, 2021 at 12:01 pm

   Points won by each set: | 25-30, 36-30, 34-26, 41-35 |
   Points won directly behind the serve:
   37 % Johansson – 43 of 115
   26 % Safin – 38 of 142

   The tournament was deprived of Andre Agassi, the champion in years 2000-01 & 2003 while Sampras was already behind his prime, these two facts opened the draw for several players… The final lasted 2 hours 53 minutes (two minutes longer than Johansson’s 5-set semifinal). In the 4th set, Safin [11] saved a break point trailing 0:2 to lead 3:2 soon. The Swede [18] won at ‘love’ his last four service games (18 points on serve in a row)! In the tie-break, the Swedish player had already led *5:0 before converted his fourth match point and rather calmly reacted to the success of his life. The final was played on Safin’s 22nd birthday, there were rumours he’d been partying all night long preceding the final, and the hangover wore him down. If it’s true, it shouldn’t diminish ToJo’s achievement as he had defeated Safin before, losing to him twice balanced encounters. So definitely he knew how to play against the Russian. Johansson said about the post-match ceremony. “You cannot compare anything with this. I dreamt about it. I’ve seen it on TV but I never thought I was going to be standing there on court.” The Swede took all his chances; en route to the final he ousted only lower ranked opponents (between 4R and SF he could have faced higher ranked: Kuerten, Henman, Grosjean/Ivanisevic), and when he finally became an underdog in the final, he quickly realized that Safin wouldn’t play his best tennis on that day.

   Johansson’s route to his 7th title:
   1 Jacobo Diaz 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(2), 6-4
   2 Markus Hipfl 6-4, 6-1, 6-4
   3 Younes El Aynaoui 5-7, 6-2, 6-2, 6-4
   4 Adrian Voinea 6-7(8), 6-2, 6-0, 6-4
   Q Jonas Bjorkman 6-0, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4
   S Jiri Novak 7-6(5), 0-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
   W Marat Safin 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 7-6(4)

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