mc06coria_mathieu

Points won by each set: [ 20-32, 52-48, 34-32 ]
Points won directly on serve:
6 % Coria – 7 of 112
17 % Mathieu – 19 of 106

[9] Coria was a Top 10 player in the years 2003-05; in 2006 he was just 24-year-old when he achieved his last good result – Monte Carlo’s quarterfinal. In the second round he survived of the strangest matches of the decade, vs Mathieu [39] trailing 1-6, 1:5! Coria’s number of double faults – 20 (7, 11, 2); six of them in the first game of the 2nd set! In the third round he served his career worst, 23 double faults, but defeated Kiefer 6-7, 6-4, 6-3 anyway… 43 double faults committed by a player in back-to-back matches? Unbelievable, especially that the Argentinian didn’t risk serves on his second delivery. Coria’s obsessive double faulting in the first few months of 2006 it was the beginning of his end. After Monte Carlo ’06 he never played another quarterfinal of a big event. Even though he officially retired in 2009, the ’06 is Coria’s last full ATP season. His serve inexplicably collapsed at the US Open ’05 – the first event when he began committing a dozen of double faults regularly. “At this level, it is unforgivable,” Mathieu said about his defeat. “He was serving so badly, I knew he would give me free points. But he must have thought he was going to lose and just relaxed. I was trying so hard that I tensed up.” The Frenchman served thrice to win the match: he had first two match points serving at 5:2, then led *5:4 (30/0) and *6:4 in the tie-break which he lost 6/8. Coria saved the last match point in a lucky way – his forehand clipped the net-cord forcing Mathieu’s defensive shot, to which Coria responded with a backhand pass. Mathieu was on his way to make a miracle comeback in the decider. From 2:5* (30/40) he saved six match points, improved to 4:5 (30/0), but Coria converted his seventh match point with a forehand winner. Coria’s second match won from four match points down #

# Comparison of Coria’s similar 4 MP-down wins:
Miami 2004: Coria d. Gonzalez 4-6, 7-6(6), 6-1… 2 hours 6 minutes… Total points: 104-92… trailed 4-6, *3:5 (4:6 in TB)
MCarlo 2006: Coria d. Mathieu 1-6, 7-6(6), 6-4… 2 hours 47 minutes… Total points: 106-112… trailed 1-6, *1:5 (4:6 in TB)

Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply