1 Response to rome99kuerten.raffter

1. Voo de Mar says:

   May 3, 2023 at 12:03 am

   26 out of 35 games included to the stats (74%)… Number of aces, double faults & breaks points valid throughout.

   Points won by each set: | 37-30, 43-39, 49-41 |

   The Italian Open was considered as the fastest clay-court event, thus several serve-and-volley players enjoyed the surface advancing to the finals in the 90s (Ivanisevic, Sampras, Becker, Krajicek & Rafter). In the first meeting between two revelations of ’97, Kuerten [14] and Rafter [4], the Brazilian dominated the progress of the final more than the scoreline could suggest. He already led 5:1* in the 1st and 5:3* in the 2nd set; in turn in the no-break-of-serve 3rd set, he comfortably held six times having break points in Rafter’s three service games. In the tie-break Rafter missed an easy volley leading 5:4* and lost on the second match point after 2 hours 40 minutes as ‘Guga’ finished one of the longest rallies with a backhand volley.

   Kuerten’s route to his 5th title:
   1 Fernando Vicente 6-4, 6-3
   2 Francisco Clavet 6-3, 6-3
   3 Yevgeny Kafelnikov 7-5, 6-1
   Q Karol Kucera 3-6, 6-4, 7-5
   S Alex Corretja 6-4, 6-2
   W Patrick Rafter 6-4, 7-5, 7-6(6)

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