2 Responses to rg00squillari_costa

1. Voo de Mar says:

   September 24, 2025 at 2:34 pm

   Points won by each set: | 30-28, 39-31, 20-34, 44-34 |
   Points won directly behind the serve:
   15 % Squillari – 20 of 126
   14 % Costa – 19 of 134

   Costa [18] was among main favorites to win the French Open title in the second half of the 90s, but he didn’t even reach the quarterfinal following his sensational run in 1995. The opportunity to finally conquer Paris in 2000 was enormous because in the quarterfinal he faced Squillari [45] whom had defeated in all their three meetings (the same H2H against Norman in the potential semifinal), all on clay, and Costa was never seriously threatened. Squillari had probably drawn some conclusions upon those defeats with his coach De La Pena, and entered the centre court with a simple game-plan – to hit his forehands as hard as he could in response to Costa’s shorter/slower balls. He was doing that throughout the match, manufacturing an astonishing number of forehand winners (10-9-8-7 respectively in sets), and it worked out after three hours of play. Costa had showed his first signs of frustration trailing *0:2 in the 2nd set. There was a moment of hope for him, he broke back early in the 4th set, and led 3:2* (40/15) but the break points evaporated quickly, and the Argentine took the last three games with authority, finishing the match with his trademark shot – forehand inside-out. ☆ Advancing to the semifinal, he did something his more accomplished compatriots of the older generation couldn’t, namely those three best born in the 60s (in parenthesis years they lost QFs): Martin Jaite (1985), Guillermo Perez-Roldan (1988) and Alberto Mancini (1989). Squillari became the first Argentine to advance to the French Open semifinal since 1982 (Guillermo Vilas and Jose-Luis Clerc).

   Serve & volley: Squillari 0, Costa 1/1

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2. Voo de Mar says:

   September 24, 2025 at 5:15 pm

   ☆ Horacio de la Peña – Squillari’s coach – the arguably fourth best Argentine born in the 60s, reached the 4th round in Paris of 1986 (lost to Leconte)

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