1 Response to paris99agassi_lapentti

1. Voo de Mar says:

   June 18, 2026 at 12:46 pm

   Points won by each set: | 22-28, 32-20, 33-22 |
   Unreturned serves:
   23 % Agassi – 16 of 68
   19 % Lapentti – 21 of 89

   A preview of what awaited tennis in the 21st century – an indoor event and the semifinal line-up (Agassi vs Lapentti, Chang vs Safin) was entirely constructed of players not interested to get cheap points with either the serve-and-volley strategy or the serve-forehand combo; Safin was 19 at the time and still in the process of becoming a more offensive player. Two semifinals played almost thoroughly from the back of the court it was something unseen before on the main (carpet) court at Paris-Bercy. In the first semifinal Agassi [1] led 3:1* (deuce) when Lapentti [11] collected five games in succession. There was 3-all in the 2nd set when Agassi found the solution against the tricky Ecuadorian – it was a mixture of fast and tight cross-court backhands overlapped by increased speed of first serves. In the consequence the American almost finished the match winning nine consecutive games – he already led *5:0 (40/15) in the decider when Lapentti’s blocked return landed on the baseline forcing an error. Even though Lapentti was taking a lesson for an hour, he was constantly smiling – thanks to that semifinal he secured his berth in ‘Masters’ while a year before his ranking had not been good enough to allow him playing the qualifying rounds in Paris.

   Serve & volley: Agassi 1/3, Lapentti 0

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