rg98stoltenberg_rafter

Points won by each set: | 30-26, 22-31, 34-28, 27-17 |
Points won directly behind the serve:
25 % Stoltenberg – 29 of 113
27 % Rafter – 28 of 102

In a French Open ’97 quarterfinal, Rafter defeated Blanco, one year later in Paris they both were defeated by Stoltenberg in back-to-back matches (Blanco lost 8-10 in the 5th). Big blow for Rafter [5] who had defeated his countryman in all their three previous meetings. In 1998 everything possible as far as the title was concerned, despite being a serve-an-volleyer Rafter was in the mix of the title contenders as a semifinalist of 1997 and the US Open champion the same year. All guys who’d been obtaining the best Roland Garros results within a decade, were out of form in 1998: Agassi [20], Bruguera [22], Medvedev [68] – lost in 1R, Courier [50] lost in 2R, Chang [11] lost in 3R, Muster [23] lost in QF. Stoltenberg [62] was controlling the outcome on Court no. 1 from the beginning, he’d already led 5:2* in the opener before clinched the set with three successive backhand return winners. On faster surfaces he used to attack the net a lot, in that match (arguably his biggest clay-court victory) he applied very defensive tactics.

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