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, 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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