1 Response to iw95sampras_edberg

1. Voo de Mar says:

   January 29, 2023 at 11:20 pm

   Points won by each set: [ 30-37, 31-24, 30-27 ]
   Points won directly on serve:
   37 % Sampras – 34 of 90
   33 % Edberg – 30 of 89

   Edberg’s [16] last match at a final stage of an event which gathered all the best players in the world. # Even though he wasn’t the same guy who’d played a semifinal vs Sampras [1] a year before, the scoreline was almost repeated (the numbers of points won were exactly the same!) – Edberg simply knew how to play against the American, how to read his serve & make his own efficient (6:6 their Head to Head at the time). Sampras was very tough to break in the mid 90s, but Edberg broke him already twice in the opener (blew a set point at *5:2) and created a break chance in the 1st game of the 2nd set – a strange situation occurred then: they were supposed to play a point when strings in two rackets were gone (!) – first Edberg’s string after Sampras’ missed 1st serve (SamPe was awarded the 1st serve because Edberg changed his racket), then Sampras’ string when he missed the serve! Another bizarre situation occurred at another break point a few games later (3:2, adv.) – Sampras got a break with a backhand passing-shot and his nose began bleeding; medical intervention was required. In the decider Edberg improved from 1:3 to 4:3*, but lost the last three games despite a 30/15 lead in each of them.

   # Comparison of their back-to-back IW semifinals:
   1994: Sampras d. Edberg 6-3, 3-6, 6-4… 1 hour 55 minutes… Total points: 91-88 (aces: 13-7)… 7 pts away
   1995: Sampras d. Edberg 4-6, 6-3, 6-4… 1 hour 49 minutes… Total points: 91-88 (aces: 13-6)… 6 pts away

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