daviscup93goellner_edberg

Points won by each set: [ 26-24, 24-33, 30-26, 42-39 ]
Points won directly behind the serve:
36 % Goellner – 51 of 138
40 % Edberg – 43 of 106

Even though Mark-Kevin Goellner [31] succumbed a super dramatic match in the Davis Cup ’93 final, he’s a legitimate contributor to the last (so far) triumph of the Germans in this prestigious competition. In the 1993 edition as a novice he defeated on grass in four sets Petr Korda (6-4, 6-7, 6-1, 7-6) in the quarterfinals and in the semifinals on clay-indoors he added to his resume quite similar 4-set victory over another Top 10 player, stunning Edberg [5] after 2 hours 25 minutes. The fifth set seemed inevitable, but Goellner delivered his best tennis every time he was in danger in the set No. 4: fired two aces at 1:4 (deuce), at 2:5 (30/40) saved the set point with a forehand winner, followed by two straight aces; at 5:6 (0/30) first he hit a BH-netctord-volley winner, then struck an ace… in the 7/4 tie-break notched two consecutive aces again leading 3:2, and at 5:4 an ace and service winner gave him the victory – the most valuable in his career. Goellner was a revelation of 1993 advancing from No. 109 to 31, but that win over Edberg stopped his development. He beat two days later Henrik Holm in a dead rubber, Jakob Hlasek in the first round of Basel the following week, lost to Magnus Larsson (2R) and waited almost a year to enjoy three consecutive wins again…

Before that semifinal in Borlänge, the Swedes were slight favourites on paper because they were the hosts, having in the team Magnus Gustafsson [19] who had recently defeated on clay both Germans (Goellner & Stich) in Stuttgart. In the first rubber Sich [6] outplayed Gustafsson easier than anyone could expect, then Goellner played – arguably – the match of his life vs Edberg, and the shocked Swedes lost the tie 0:5!

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