1 Response to rg93bruguera_sampras_

1. Voo de Mar says:

   November 9, 2021 at 6:48 pm

   Points won by each set: | 32-23, 33-40, 25-10, 29-24 |
   Points won directly behind the serve:
   22 % Bruguera – 25 of 109
   28 % Sampras – 31 of 107

   The first of many majors when Sampras was seeded as no. 1. He had won only one clay-court title at the time, but before the French Open ’93 he reached the Rome semifinal and helped the USA in capturing the World Team Cup title, so he could be considered as one of the favorites. Bad for him that in the quarterfinal he faced Bruguera [11] to whom had lost two weeks before 3-6, 1-6 in Dusseldorf. The first two sets in Paris almost repeated the WTC scoreline: Sampras trailed 3-6, *0:3 (0/30), then 1:4 in the 2nd set. He managed to get the contact set, but Bruguera’s consistency was amazing in the fortnight. The Spaniard was holding to the end of the match easily while Sampras was a bit unlucky at the end of the 4th set – there were three subtle decisions and all of them went against him. Perhaps he could survive with the help of a tie-break but it wasn’t meant to be. Three years later Sampras avenges that 4-set defeat on the same court. In 1993 he was improvising a lot, he was not always running to the net behind the 1st serve, he was doing it at times behind the 2nd serve, he was involved in longer rallies, trying to apply dropshots… In 1996 Sampras’ tactic was different, hardcourt alike – S/V only behind the 1st serve, putting a lot of pressure on his opponent in return games with aggressive backhands, and it paid dividends.

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