cincy92sampras_lendl

Points won by each set: [ 32-25, 23-30, 28-20 ]
Points won directly behind the serve:
36 % Sampras – 29 of 80
32 % Lendl – 25 of 78

To some degree a symbolic match in retrospect, in which the best player of the 80s lost to the best player of the 90s. For the former [11] it was the last big final while the latter [3] collected the first out of his 11 Masters 1K titles. Quite strange event for the 21-year-old Sampras overall. He was struggling in the first two rounds against inferior opponents, then with relative ease (eight straight ‘6-3′ sets (!) counting his tough match vs Woodforde) he defeated three Top 10ers. In his last match the first two sets went with a logic of one break per set, however, in the 3rd set Lendl broke back twice; there were five consecutive breaks (between 2:1 & 5:3), and then serving for the championship the 11 years younger American needed just one minute (ace, two service winners, forced BH error with a volley) to raise his arms in victory.

Sampras’ route to his 11th title:
2 Francisco Montana 7-6(7), 3-6, 6-3
3 Mark Woodforde 2-6, 7-6(8), 6-3 – 1 m.p.
Q Petr Korda 6-3, 6-3
S Stefan Edberg 6-3, 6-3
W Ivan Lendl 6-3, 3-6, 6-3

Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply