rg94muster_agassi

Points won by each set: [ 32-21, 41-44, 38-27, 26-33, 39-34 ]
Points won directly on serve:
21 % Muster – 33 of 154
22 % Agassi – 40 of 181

That encounter is a strong candidate to the title “the best Grand Slam second round match in history”, given the quality of opponents & dramaturgy. These two guys were clearly the best in the world (along with Pete Sampras) one year later, but already at the time they both were very experienced and established as top dogs. Agassi [19] was not seeded in the event because he didn’t play five months at the turn of 1993/94 due to wrist injury… still many years before the introduction of 32 seeds (since 2001 a match like that one could happen in the third round at the earliest). Muster [11] was dominating for one hour, and after very easy 1st set, he led 5:2* (30-all) in the 2nd, then 6:5 (30/15) and 5:3 in the tie-break. In the 3rd set Muster held three times in a row at ‘love’, but at 4:5 he faced a set point which he fought off with his only overhead winner after 13-stroke rally. Trailing *0:2 (0/15) in the 5th, Agassi was penalized with a point deduction after his second verbal obscenity. He seemed to be discouraged afterwards, and a bagel set hung in the air. At *0:4 (15/30), Agassi hit a second serve ace & it rewrote the script of the set. He came back from 1:5, to 5-all (deuce), so technically he was six points away from victory, but Muster had more in the tank & finished the 3-hour 42-minute contest on the first match point with his just second serve-and-volley attempt of the day.

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