Stats without 8 games of the 1st set, number of aces, double faults & break points correct for the entire contest… Total points – the last four sets

Points won by each set: [ ?, 45-36, 31-39, 30-20, 33-28 ]
Points won directly on serve (the last four sets):
26 % Moya – 33 of 125
29 % Becker – 41 of 137

Even though Becker [6] was a defending champion and finished the 1996 season in very good form, he wasn’t a clear favorite that day on RLA because Moya [25] began the new year with a final in Sydney & two months earlier on faster surface in Paris, Becker lost to Moya 3-6, 7-5, 4-6, which was a shocker then – at the time the Spaniard had been considered as a clay-courter… Becker was on his way to get a routine win, he led 7-5, 3:1* when lost his serve for the first time and things became complicated for him, he visibly dealt worse with very hot conditions & basically had no chance in the last two sets (had his last break point in the opening game of the 4th set; the final break at 3-all in the decider). Moya suddenly turned to a tennis star, his another three matches on smaller courts where full crowded with plenty of support for him & he advanced to the final (after another surprising win, over Chang) where he got a lesson from Sampras.