1 Response to uo00sampras_hewitt

1. Voo de Mar says:

   November 1, 2021 at 10:42 am

   Points won by each set: [ 46-43, 38-29, 42-44 ]
   Points won directly behind the serve:
   44 % Sampras – 52 of 118
   33 % Hewitt – 41 of 124

   During that tournament, the 19-year-old Hewitt [9] reached another level of his tennis abilities. Prior to the US Open ’00, he’d been supposed to serve maximum 10 aces in a match, and all of a sudden he fired 17 aces vs Vinciguerra (the first round), 18 against Clement (the quarterfinal) and 23 (!) against Sampras… for another 15 years of his career he won’t serve more than 23! Despite fantastic service performance, the young Australian couldn’t even steal a set. He was just a ~50% tie-break player at the time (27-26 record after the event), but much worse when it came to 6-all in breakers (4-10 after after the event) – especially the first of two tie-breaks confirmed it – Hewitt had saved three set points in two games to create two set points for himself in the breaker – the first one Sampras fought off with an overhead, on the second one (7:6) Hewitt delivered good first serve, but sent his forehand wide having an open court and a few options to win the vital point; lost the tie-break 7/9. In the 3rd set he led 4:1* (30/15) and 5:4* in the second tie-break – Sampras [4] got two consecutive points with great play at the net. On the first match point Hewitt caught a defensive mode and Sampras took opportunity attacking his backhand. One year later on the same court Hewitt will take a brutal revenge.

   Aces hit by each set:
   18 – Sampras (7, 6, 5)
   23 – Hewitt (7, 7, 9)

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