1 Response to cincy00kuerten_martin

1. Voo de Mar says:

   August 4, 2026 at 3:47 pm

   Points won by each set: | 33-41, 31-23, 48-47 |
   Unreturned serves:
   27 % Kuerten – 33 of 122
   34 % Martin – 35 of 101

   Kuerten [4] became the best player of the first year of the new Century, and that match against Martin [34] it was one of examples why he would reach the top. In the late 90s he was initially associated with clay-courts, but from Wimbledon ’99 onwards, he was similarly dangerous on faster surfaces because his serve was a real weapon, not in terms of speed, but rather in terms of variety. In the 3rd set against Martin, the Brazilian took a medical time-out at *2:3 due to blisters on his fingers. Martin was two points away from victory in three different games: first at 5:2 (30-all), then at *5:3 (deuce), and finally at 5:4* in the tie-break. Kuerten didn’t allow Martin to get a match point mainly thanks to his well placed forehands. On first match point, the American missed a backhand volley from a relatively winnable position. Quite bizarre that the following day, Kuerten played almost an identical match against another player attacking the net a lot behind the serve, but that time he finished on a losing end (he lost two tie-breaks 0/7 within two days which is also peculiar).

   # Comparison of Kuerten’s back-to-back matches in Cincinnati ’00:
   Quarterfinal: Kuerten d. Martin 6-7(0), 6-3, 7-6(5)… 2 hours 38 minutes… Total points: 112-111… Breaks: 3-2… two points away
   Semifinal: Henman d. Kuerten 6-7(11), 6-4, 7-6(0)… 2 hours 36 minutes… Total points: 126-112… Breaks: 1-0… three points away

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