Points won by each set: [ 46-42, 34-32 ]
Points won directly on serve:
28 % Gambill – 25 of 87
19 % Hewitt – 13 of 67
In the initial phase of Hewitt’s career, Gambill was one of his toughest opponents. It was their fourth meeting and Gambill [19] led H2H 3:1 afterwards winning the 1st set in a similar fashion to the previous set they played a year before at Wimbledon as Gambill won 6-3, 6-2, 7-5 saving three set points at *2:5 in the 3rd set… During their Miami nigh session match, [7] Hewitt led 5:3* (deuce), in the following game he led 30/0 when Gambill hit his first BH winner (off return – the ball clipped the baseline), then at 30/15 the Aussie played a solid overhead, but Gambill responded with a super fast FH passing-shot, I’d say something like that happens just 1 on 10. In the 2nd set the American fought off adv. break points at 3-all & escaped 4-all (0/40) to convert his first match point thanks to Hewitt’s volley error finishing the almost two-hour contest. The best event in Gambill’s career – before Hewitt he’d defeated i.a. Ilie saving four match points (first round) and Gaudio saving a match point (quarterfinal). So many tight moments cost him mentally too much and after an equal opener in the final vs Agassi, he had no chance in the following two sets.
