2 Responses to lyon93sampras_pioline

1. Voo de Mar says:

   November 2, 2022 at 1:00 am

   Stats without the first 8 games of the final set, 24 of 32… (75%)

   Points won by each set: | 49-45, 13-26, 41-40 |

   Sampras [1] – the king of Lyon. The American won three titles in a row in the Eastern-French city of the years 1991-93; he had everything under full control until the last two matches of the ’93 edition. In the final he trailed 1:4* (15/30) in the decider, having lost his service rhythm, but still he had some other tools in the box which allowed him to turn the match around. At 5-all Sampras faced a mini match point when delivered a powerful first serve, and Pioline [10] couldn’t return it properly… Three weeks later they face each other again (Antwerp semifinal), and the Frenchman creates even better opportunity to win – he leads 6-4, 5:3* (30/15) when is unable to return Sampras’ serve and loses 10 out of the next 11 games! Pioline, one of the best players of the 90s, never defeated any of two best players of the decade (0-9 vs Sampras, 0-3 vs Agassi)… He has to wait until London ’08 to finally beat Sampras; he does it in two tie-breaks in a round robin match at Masters of Legends when they both are already a few years on retirement…. The American finished his career with a 21-1 record in Lyon, suffering the only defeat to Ferreira in the 1995 final.

   Sampras’ route to his 20th title:
   1 Tomas Carbonell 7-5, 6-3
   2 Markus Naewie 6-3, 6-3
   Q Stephane Simian 6-4, 7-5
   S Jakob Hlasek 1-6, 6-3, 7-6(6)
   W Cedric Pioline 7-6(5), 1-6, 7-5

   * Sampras two points away to lose vs Hlasek & five points away vs Pioline

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2. Voo de Mar says:

   October 20, 2023 at 11:57 pm

   ..for Pioline it was his third indoor final within three weeks (!), thanks to that he advanced to the Top 10 not having an ATP title under his belt; this unique feat had before achieved Mikael Pernfors in 1986, who similarly to Pioline, obtained the most important points finishing as a runner-up of a Slam (Pernfors in Paris, Pioline in New York). Marcos Baghdatis would be the third player with this unique feat in 2006 (Australian Open runner-up).

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