Points won by each set: [ 22-28, 52-46, 30-17 ]
Points won directly on serve:
33 % Stich – 32 of 95
18 % Sampras – 18 of 100
A unique situation that two best players in the world faced each other before the final stage of an event. It was the third year in a row they met in Dusseldorf (1992 Stich, 1993 Sampras). Sampras was in a form of his life, but Stich was one of his most difficult opponents, and leading by a set and a break weren’t enough to seal the victory. Stich played superb BH-dropshot trailing *2:4 (15/30) in the 2nd set, then at 3:5 (30/40) he stayed on the baseline after a missed first serve, but attacked the net behind his 2nd serve forcing Sampras’ backhand error. In the ensuing rainy tie-break Sampras led 4:2 again, and had another match point at 6:5 – Stich fought it off with a new racket because the strings gone after a missed first serve! Like with the first MP, Stich delivered a kick serve to Sampras’ backhand to get a cheap point. The German took the breaker 9/7 after a winning forehand. In the deciding set the sloppy Sampras was broken in games no. 1 & 7 – he lost his first match after 29 consecutive wins (the longest match-winning streak of his career).