1 Response to gstaad98corretja_becker

1. Voo de Mar says:

   October 5, 2020 at 6:13 am

   Points won by each set: [ 44-41, 34-33, 30-20 ]
   Points won directly behind the serve:
   30 % Corretja – 30 of 97
   30 % Becker – 32 of 105

   With this title, Corretja [9] entered the best six months of his life when he made a transition from one of the best clay-courters into the second best player in the world (four titles on three surfaces). # Becker’s [119] advancement to his sixth & last clay-court final was completely unexpected. Following Wimbledon ’97 he had status of a semi-retired player, in Summer ’98 he just dropped outside the Top 100 for the first time since 1984, and barely survived the first round saving a triple match point on serve against the local player (George Bastl). Becker took advantage of the high altitude risking his second serves (higher than usual clay-court bounce at the Gstaad’s elevation) and defeated in the next three matches players to whom he had been supposed to lose (Pioline, Mantilla, Rios – all of them in straight-setters!). And also he could have hypothetically lad 2-0 in sets vs Corretja if he had converted his chances in both sets – squandered a double break point at 3-all in the 1st set, and a triple set point at 5:4* (40/0) in the 2nd set – made three backhand mistakes, two of them returning Corretja’s serves. It was the crucial moment, afterwards the Spaniard grabbed 9 of the last 12 games, finishing the contest with a volley-volley exchange. Corretja didn’t drop his serve in the last 8 sets he played in the tournament.

   Corretja’s route to his 6th title:
   1 Oliver Gross 6-4, 4-6, 6-1
   2 Slava Dosedel 6-0, 7-5
   Q Albert Costa 5-7, 6-2, 6-2
   S Filip Dewulf 6-3, 6-7(3), 6-3
   W Boris Becker 7-6(5), 7-5, 6-3

   # Becker’s six clay-court final defeats:
   Monte Carlo ’89: Mancini 5-7, 6-2, 6-7(4), 5-7
   Hamburg ’90: Aguilera 1-6, 0-6, 6-7(7)
   Monte Carlo ’91: Bruguera 7-5, 4-6, 6-7(6), 6-7(4)
   Rome ’94: Sampras 1-6, 2-6, 2-6
   Monte Carlo ’95: Muster 6-4, 7-5, 1-6, 6-7(6), 0-6
   Gstaad ’98: Corretja 6-7(5), 5-7, 3-6

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