1 Response to ao98escude_kiefer

1. Voo de Mar says:

   May 15, 2024 at 11:34 am

   Points won by each set: | 29-35, 26-32, 31-28, 26-13, 32-20 |
   Points won directly behind the serve:
   29 % Escude – 40 of 134
   31 % Kiefer – 43 of 138

   An unexpected French-German duel of sons of French mothers, thus pronunciation of their names is the same /nikola/. The 20-year-old Kiefer [29] was more experienced at the main-level than his one year older namesake, and even though their game-styles were mirroring, it seemed that Kiefer’s better serve would be the key to his routine victory. There was 4-all in the 3rd set when Kiefer created a mini-match point – he played a moon-lob, but his ball flew long, and it somehow turned the tables. Escude [81] had a set point at 5:4 when the line-judge didn’t say anything after Kiefer’s successful serve-and-volley action, but the umpire called the ball ‘out’. Kiefer didn’t protest, he attacked the net again serving in a different direction, and made a volley error. Soon afterwards it was revealed that his impatience at the beginning of the 4th set was caused by pain in his left foot. Escude led 3:1* (30/15) in the decider when the match was suspended due to rain. After the resumption thirty minutes later under the roof, there were three breaks of serve in a row, and the Frenchman converted his first match point with a high backhand stop-volley (the frame helped him to play it). # Escude became the first player in the Open Era to win three Slam matches in the same tournament trailing two-sets-to-love. Escude’s feat is improved at the French Open ’13 as Tommy Robredo wins three successive matches erasing a “0:2” deficit in sets (Sijsling, Monfils, Almagro).

   Serve & volley: Escude 3/7, Kiefer 5/11

   # Comparison of Escude’s three “0:2” five-setters at Aussie Open ’98:
   1R: Magnus Larsson 5-7, 4-6, 7-5, 6-1, 10-8… 3 hours 23 minutes… 1 m.p.
   3R: Richey Reneberg 1-6, 6-7(0), 6-2, 7-5, 6-4… 3 hours 6 minutes… 4 points away (1 mini m.p.)
   QF: Nicolas Kiefer 4-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-2… 2 hours 27 minutes… 5 points away (1 mini m.p.)
   

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