2 Responses to ao97moya_mantilla

1. Voo de Mar says:

   October 2, 2025 at 6:16 pm

   Points won by each set: | 45-38, 30-17, 48-47, 28-12 |
   Points won directly behind the serve:
   21 % Moya – 25 of 118
   15 % Mantilla – 23 of 147

   The 10th edition of the Australian Open at Flinders Park and for the first time the officials decided to use the retractable roof because of the heat policy instead of rain. There was 36°C in the shade, Mantilla [19] was upset that the match took place indoors. It was the first major quarterfinal for both Spaniards who knew each other very well, training often together. Moya [25] surprised everyone, perhaps excluding Mantilla, attacking the net on serve on a regular basis, either with serve-and-volley actions or with approach-shots immediately after Mantilla’s shorter returns. Apart from his great disposal at the net, Moya’s forehand was working tremendously well, and he finished the contest with 52% points obtained after winners while the norm for hardcourts it’s over 30%! Moya’s superiority was questioned at the end of the 3rd set, he led 5:4 (30-all) on serve when sent his casual FH long. In the tie-break he improved from 2:6 to 5:6* when lost the longest rally of the match (20 strokes). The match was conducted in sterile conditions, tiredness wasn’t a factor, thus Moya began the 4th set as fresh as a daisy, and broke twice his two years older compatriot… # Mantilla entered the second week at majors just twice in his career, and on both occasions his facing Moya meant the final station for him after quite similar matches in terms of the scoreline.

   Serve & volley: Moya 12/18, Mantilla 0

   # Comparison of their two Slam matches:
   Aussie Open 1997 (QF): Moya d. Mantilla 7-5, 6-2, 6-7, 6-2… 2 hours 29 minutes… Total points: 151-114… Breaks: 9-4
   French Open 1998 (SF): Moya d. Mantilla 5-7, 6-2, 6-4, 6-2… 2 hours 41 minutes… Total points: 130-109… Breaks: 6-2

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2. Voo de Mar says:

   October 2, 2025 at 6:39 pm

   ☆ The structure of tennis matches on hardcourts was reshaped in the first half of the 00s (mainly thanks to more flexible equipment which allowed players who were primarily operating on the baseline, using heavy top-spins, got the upper hand over the net-rushers), but already the Australian Open ’97 heralded that trend. As many as three Spaniards (Moya, Mantilla, A.Costa) advanced to the quarterfinals while in the first half of the 90s, the best player from the Iberian peninsula, Bruguera didn’t reach the last 8 neither in Melbourne nor in New York. Each of three Spaniards who weren’t expected to play the Aussie Open quarterfinals because of their association with claycourts, had defeated the potent serve-and-volleyers in the first round: Moya, Mantilla and Costa upset Becker, Rusedski and Rafter respectively. Two other Spaniards (J.Sanchez, Corretja) had unexpectedly reached the quarterfinals at the US Open ’96, also eliminating more experienced serve-and-volleyers (Sanchez d. Stoltenberg, Corretja d. Forget). It was a harbinger of what was to come a decade later…

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