1 Response to brussels91forget_cherkasov

1. Voo de Mar says:

   January 30, 2025 at 1:45 pm

   Points won by each set: | 32-23, 38-33, 22-30, 50-43 |
   Points won directly behind the serve:
   32 % Forget – 40 of 124
   20 % Cherkasov – 30 of 147

   [11] Forget struck 61 aces in five matches (17, 9, 13, 12, 10 respectively) which means 12.2 aces per match: unseen number en route to a main-level title in the “best of three” format in the 80s – Ivanisevic almost doubled it the following year in Stuttgart ’92! Given that the final was played “best of five” Forget could serve ~20 aces in it with his indoor ratio at the time. In the 2nd set he delivered a service winner at 4:5 (deuce). In the 4th set he squandered four match points at 5:4; in the tie-break he led 5:1*, at 5:3 he risked his second serve for the only time in the final, but committed a double fault (160 kph, faster than Cherkasov’s first serve on average). The Frenchman seemed more tired towards the end of the match (it lasted 3 hours 33 minutes, so like a typical five-setter at the time), but Cherkasov [25] missed his two passing-shots not by much in critical moments: first to give Forget a double match point in the tie-break, then on Forget’s sixth match point. It was a surprising final, everyone expected another Becker-Edberg clash – the two best players in the world, who’d faced each other in three indoor finals in the last quarter of 1990, but they both lost lop-sided three-set semifinals (Becker actually retired against Cherkasov at 6-2, 3-6, 2-2 because he didn’t want to aggravate his leg injury a few days before Stuttgart where he was a defending champion). “It’s because I’ve played so much, and it got worse and worse today,” Becker explained. “At one point in the match I thought the muscle would break.” Becker withdrew from Stuttgart anyway, and needed a month break.

   Forget’s route to his 5th title:
   1 Amos Mansdorf 4-6, 6-3, 6-3
   2 Eduardo Masso 6-1, 6-2
   Q Marc Rosset 6-2, 7-5
   S Stefan Edberg 3-6, 6-0, 6-3
   W Andrey Cherkasov 6-3, 7-5, 3-6, 7-6(5)

   The biggest title (equivalent of ATP 500) in Forget’s career at the age of 26, but he was still improving and later that season captured two bigger titles

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