2 Responses to longisland98rafter_mantilla

1. Voo de Mar says:

   August 16, 2025 at 2:45 pm

   Points won by each set: [ 40-34, 33-22 ]
   Points won directly on serve:
   52 % Rafter – 32 of 61
   27 % Mantilla – 19 of 68

   “I just hope that physically I’m still fresh,” Rafter [3] said about playing the final two days before the US Open first round. “I’ll take a good rest tonight and tomorrow.” Except the last game when made three relatively easy mistakes at the net, he played a perfect serve-and-volley match, his serve was actually phenomenal. Mantilla [19] withstood 15/40 in two service games in the opener, but after losing the tie-break he seemed discouraged and avoided a bagel applying his first S&V at 0:4 (30/40) in the 2nd set. Rafter finished the contest on his fourth match point with a beautiful FH-volley. Throughout the week he was broken just once, in the 2nd set vs Sanchez.

   Rafter’s route to his 7th title:
   1 Javier Sanchez 6-2, 4-6, 6-4
   2 Martin Damm 6-4, 6-3
   Q Nicolas Escude 6-3, 6-3
   S Greg Rusedski 6-4, 7-5
   W Felix Mantilla 7-6(3), 6-2

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2. Voo de Mar says:

   August 16, 2025 at 3:11 pm

   ☆ Titles in Toronto, Cincinnati and Long Island didn’t wear him down, and he defended his title at the US Open despite losing the opening two sets to Hicham Arazi. Rafter’s performance of Summer ’98 it’s arguably the best summer for any player in the Open Era; between titles in Cincinnati he lost the New Haven third round. It’s really remarkable that he claimed four titles (three big ones) within six weeks not skipping any of them! Only two other players: Roddick in 2003 and Nadal in 2013 are comparable.

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