1 Response to rg01kuerten_corretja

1. Voo de Mar says:

   April 19, 2024 at 5:38 pm

   Points won by each set | 41-47, 39-35, 30-20, 26-6 |
   Points won directly behind the serve:
   24 % Kuerten – 30 of 123
   11 % Corretja – 14 of 121

   # Just like a year before, Kuerten [1] needed a complex four-setter in the final to raise the trophy in Paris for the third and last time. After a long opener in which Corretja [13] led all the time, he began with 2:0* the 2nd set. He wasted a mini-set point at 5-all and from that moment the tight final turned into a one-sided encounter. The 4th set it’s actually the most one-sided set in all Open Era major finals – Kuerten had a triple match point on Corretja’s second serve having lost just two points in that set, then Corretja took advantage of Kuerten’s total relaxation, won four points, but committed a double fault and lost the last three points. It was Corretja’s second and last Grand Slam final (following his three-set defeat to Carlos Moya in 1998). Quite interesting that Kuerten overcame in Paris a nightmarish period of playing tie-breaks: as he began the 3rd set tie-break against Alami, he had an abysmal 2-13 record for the season! As the best player in the world, something similar experienced Sampras in 1995.

   Kuerten’s route to his 14th title:
   1 Guillermo Coria 6-1, 7-5, 6-4
   2 Agustin Calleri 6-4, 6-4, 6-4
   3 Karim Alami 6-3, 6-7(3), 7-6(5), 6-2
   4 Michael Russell 3-6, 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-3, 6-1 – 1 m.p.
   Q Yevgeny Kafelnikov 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(3), 6-4
   S Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-4, 6-4, 6-3
   W Alex Corretja 6-7(3), 7-5, 6-2, 6-0

   Thanks to the famous “Russell match”, Kuerten became the first match point-down Slam champion in Paris since Adriano Panatta in 1976

   # Comparison of Kuerten’s 4-set finals at Roland Garros:
   2000: Kuerten d. M.Norman 6-2, 6-3, 2-6, 7-6… 3 hours 44 minutes… Total points: 159-157… 38 games
   2001: Kuerten d. Corretja 6-7, 7-5, 6-2, 6-0…. 3 hours 12 minutes… Total points: 137-108… 39 games

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