1 Response to montreal01_pavel_rafter

1. Voo de Mar says:

   August 11, 2020 at 3:32 pm

   Points won by each set: | 37-38, 25-30, 29-22 |
   Points won directly behind the serve:
   29 % Pavel – 28 of 95
   37 % Rafter – 32 of 86

   Sport Illustrated
   “This is the highest by far for me,” Pavel said. “I was late coming over from clay to hard courts. But I won the first match and then the second and my confidence went up. It was perfect. I couldn’t believe it.” Pavel broke Rafter just once, for a 5:3 lead in the final set, and closed out the match with an ace to take the $400,000 first prize, the biggest payday of his 11-year career. “He played well and did all the right things at the right times,” said Rafter, the 1998 winner in Toronto. “He played smart in the third set. In a close match, that’s how it goes. It’s getting boring being close in tournaments and not finishing them off, but it was a good week.”
   Rafter broke Pavel twice in the 2nd set, ending the Romanian’s streak of 46 straight service games without a break. But Pavel was stingy on his service again in the final set and saw Rafter hit a backhand volley just long to lose serve for the only time in the match. When he aced Rafter on match point, Pavel fell to his knees and lay face-first on center court at du Maurier Stadium, while the capacity crowd applauded. It was Rafter’s first tournament since losing to Goran Ivanisevic in the Wimbledon final. “To beat Rafter in the final of a Masters Series – I imagine how Goran felt at Wimbledon,” Pavel said. “This is a step back from that, but it’s still a huge tournament. It’s one of the biggest in the world.”

   Pavel’s third and last ATP title:
   1 Xavier Malisse 7-6(5), 2-6, 6-3
   2 Francisco Clavet 7-5, 6-4
   3 Hicham Arazi 6-0, 6-2
   Q Andy Roddick 6-4, 6-7(2), 6-3
   S Tommy Haas 6-4, 5-0 ret.
   W Patrick Rafter 7-6(3), 2-6, 6-3

   #Two matches in which Pavel was broken in Montreal, were concluded after the same scoreline (7-6, 2-6, 6-3)

   Log in to Reply