1 Response to rg98corretja_pioline

1. Voo de Mar says:

   June 10, 2024 at 3:43 pm

   Points won by each set: | 40-34, 32-27, 34-26 |
   Points won directly behind the serve:
   21 % Corretja – 19 of 90
   24 % Pioline – 25 of 103

   3:40, 2:52, 2:04, 3:18 and 3:42 respectively – 15 hours 36 minutes, it’s the time Pioline spent on the courts to book his place in the semifinals that year, noone before him had played so many hours in order to enter the French Open semifinal (however, Sampras also needed three five-setters two years earlier). Therefore it was quite obvious that even though Pioline had defeated Corretja 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 in their previous meeting (Aussie Open ’98), the odds were strongly against the Frenchman, especially that the temperature was high (28 Celsius). The first two sets were quite unfortunate for him. In the opener at 3-all (40/15) he lost two points in a row having good positions on both points to close the game out. In the 2nd set at 4-all he had a double mini-set point, but Corretja [14] erased it quickly with an ace and his first volley winner. Pioline [17] committed a double fault to finish the set, and the French spectators had actually no hope in his ultimate success, there where even sporadic whistles as he didn’t show any positive signs with his body language. Nonetheless, trying to shorten the points, the Frenchman had break points in Corretja’s first two service games of the 3rd set, leading 30/15 in another two. The Spaniard won it in straights mainly to an immaculate performance on his backhand side. The same scoreline occurred two years before in the French Open semifinal, then Stich defeated Rosset after much shorter encounter (1:35h vs 2:22h) because as many as 40 points fewer were required for the conclusion.

   Serve & volley: Corretja 1/1, Pioline 5/15

   Log in to Reply