2 Responses to ao89lendl_muster

1. Voo de Mar says:

   February 25, 2025 at 2:23 am

   Points won by each set: | 27-14, 36-29, 34-37, 38-32 |
   Points won directly behind the serve:
   35 % Lendl – 43 of 122
   24 % Muster – 31 of 125

   Lendl [2] was playing a perfect match from a tactical point of view; he was breaking Muster [15] early in the opening two sets (led 4:0 in the 1st and 4:2 in the 2nd set), and was concentrated on holding his serve afterwards playing rather casual tennis as a receiver. In the 3rd set he didn’t repeat the pattern losing his serve at 1:2 and an extremely tough, almost torturous four-setter unfolded in unbelievable heat (*55-56°C throughout the match at the surface level!). Both players needed to take a lot of time between the service points from the end phase of the 2nd set featured by three successive ‘deuce’ games; Lendl was still mainly focused on holding, but Muster improved the quality of his serve significantly. In the 4th set he had a double break point leading 2:1. At the change of ends (5:4 for him), Lendl cut off a piece of his towel to make a wet scarf around his neck, but began the 10th game with a double fault and quickly removed it. The 22-year-old Austrian, playing his first major semifinal, had an easy overhead to get a 6:5 lead, but netted it, and ultimately lost the last seven point. In the anticlimactic last game Lendl obtained three points directly behind the serve advancing to the final after 3 hours 12 minutes… Muster, initially known as a clay-courter, became a hard-court specialist in the first quarter of 1989. A few months after the Aussie Open, he advanced to the Key Biscayne final where people expected his another intriguing “best of five” duel against Lendl, but Muster was struck by a driver after his semifinal, and it rewrote his career – after the rehabilitation he’d decide to play mainly on clay to protect his knee. Until 1997 his calendar was subordinated to the clay courts, that year he enjoyed better season on hardcourts than on clay for the second time in his career.

   First serve percentage: Lendl 57%, Muster 62%
   Serve & volley: Lendl 5/8, Muster 1/3
   Longest rally: 41 strokes (second point of the match)

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2. Voo de Mar says:

   February 25, 2025 at 2:23 am

   * It was just the second edition at Flinders Park… Prior to 1997 the roof on Centre Court was never activated due to heat, in 1998 the weather policy was implemented, suggesting that at 40°C matches may be suspended (other factors are taken into account: humidity, wind speed, and radiation)

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