montreal93pernfors_martin

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  1. Voo de Mar says:
    Points won by each set: [ 27-36, 32-19, 38-36 ]
    Points won directly on serve:
    24 % Pernfors – 24 of 98
    28 % Martin – 26 of 90

    There are four inexplicable triumphs in the Mercedes Super 9 history (the predecessor of Masters 1K): Pernfors (Montreal ’93), Roberto Carretero (Hamburg ’96), Chris Woodruff (Montreal ’97) & Albert Portas (Hamburg ’01). Pernfors’ case is different because the Spaniards and the American claimed their shocking titles not having achieved any big results. Pernfors [95], a French Open ’86 runner-up, was considered as a broad elite player in the second half of the 80s, but when he began struggling with injuries at the beginning of 1990, he had won only two minor titles at the main level. His physical problems lasted three years in total, he even disappeared from the best 1000 for a short time! For the 23-year-old Martin, the advancement to the final was career-best achievement at the time. Early on it seemed that he couldn’t lose the match: he led 5:0* (30-all) when Pernfors played an excellent forehand lob and since that moment the final changed its progress. Very surprisingly at the beginning of the 2nd set the Swede won as many as 12 points in a row! Martin [20] led 5:2* in the 3rd set anyway, yet he somehow managed to lose five games in a consequence of his tentative play and Pernfors’ agility. The Swede converted his first match point after the longest rally of the final (20 strokes).
    I’d say that Martin is the only guy out of the best 20 players born in the 70s, who never won a really big title (an event gathering all the best in the world). It was the first of his four big finals, preceding Aussie Open ’94, Munich-GSC ’95 & US Open ’99.

    Pernfors’ route to his 3rd and last title:
    1 Mark Kaplan 6-2, 7-5
    2 Jason Stoltenberg 6-4, 6-4
    3 Jim Courier 6-3, 6-2
    Q Alexander Volkov 6-2, 6-1
    S Petr Korda 7-6(4), 7-5
    W Todd Martin 2-6, 6-2, 7-5

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