1 Response to australianopen88cash_lendl

1. Voo de Mar says:

   October 20, 2020 at 11:43 am

   Points won by each set: [ 41-36, 17-28, 31-21, 27-35, 31-21 ]
   Points won directly behind the serve:
   36 % Cash – 56 of 153
   20 % Lendl – 28 of 135

   Their rivalry it’s a unique case that the best player in the world within relatively short period of time, loses to other – theoretically inferior guy – more often than wins. They played four matches in twelve months and Cash won three of them, what’s more interesting – thrice at Slams! Cash [7] had beaten Lendl [1] on grass at Aus Open & Wimbledon ’87, but on the hardcourt (Aus Open switched the venues between 1987 & 1988) Lendl was a favourite. In the very tight opener (6 out of 10 games went to ‘deuce’) the Australian saved two mini-set points at 4-all – unlucky Lendl with his passing-shot on one of occasions. In the following game Lendl led 40/0 on serve to lose five straight points. Then the intriguing match turned into a lopsided encounter; in the 4th set Lendl got the only break at 2-all holding easily five times. Cash saved four break points in the opening game of the decider (Lendl thought he won the game after one of his backhand returns, but the ball had been long) and broke at 3:2 thanks to great attacks to the net to build a 30/0 advantage. Trailing *2:5 the Czechoslovak played very poor game to be broken at ‘love’.

   # Comparison of their two Slam semifinals:
   US Open ’84: Lendl d. Cash 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-7, 7-6… 3 hours 39 minutes… Total points: 163-154
   Aus Open ’88: Cash d. Lendl 6-4, 2-6, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2… 3 hours 56 minutes… Total points: 147-141

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