Marcelo Rios continued his extraordinary run of success since joining the Merrill Lynch Tour of champions with a 7-6 (1), 7-6(5) victory over Thomas Muster in the final of the s Tennis Masters in Graz-Seiersberg.
The Chilean won his fourth tournament of the year and his 16th consecutive match to maintain his unbeaten run, but not without a struggle.
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Neither player broke serve throughout the 1hr 49 minute match, and there were moments when Muster, inspired by playing in front of his home-crowd, had Rios on the back-foot.
“It was a close one,” admitted Rios.
“I like to play Thomas, he is a fun guy and he fights for every point. It was a great match and a good atmosphere. I was enjoying it and I’m very happy not having lost a match on the Tour yet.”
He has beaten John Mcenroe, Goran Ivanisevic and Muster a couple of times over the past two weeks in Algarve and Graz. So, who might be able to beat him?
“Maybe Federer!?”, quipped Rios.
“No, I’m just joking. I’m trying to do my best. We’re playing different tennis now, maybe a bit more relaxed but still taking it serious. I don’t want to lose but the time will come when I have to lose. I’ll try to just keep going.”
Muster is determined to be the man to break the Rios streak.
“I think we are getting closer [to him] with Goran and other players,” said Muster.
“It was a great fight from both of us, two tie-breaks today. He played them very good while I was one step too short. It’s motivation though - next year I’m 40 so I’ll start [getting really fit] tomorrow. I see it as motivation for all of us to go back and practice and do a bit of work to get on a different level because that is going to happen in the future. We are going to get younger guys on the tour - good players - so we are just going to have to do our homework.”
Just as the stunning tennis of Rios has been a revelation on the Merrill Lynch Tour of Champions, the circuit has also been a welcome addition to the Chilean’s life, and he is keen to see it expand into South America in the future.
“Everybody asks me when we will have a South American section to the Champions Tour - maybe in cities like Santiago, Buenos Aires and other big cities. To make a small South American tour would be pretty nice. It’s really interesting watching these matches and it would be pretty nice to take it there one day. I think it would be pretty big and I would love to make a tournament there.”
The third-fourth place play-off was won by Ivanisevc, when his opponent Magnus Larsson was forced to retire in the second set.
Next, the Tour moves on to the Trophée Jean-Luc Lagardère in Paris in September. The Merrill Lynch Tour of Champions will then visit the Alex Tennis Classics in Eindhoven (October 12-15), the Champions Trophy in Frankfurt (November 16-19) before arriving in London for the season-ending BlackRock Masters (December 5-10).
The BlackRock Masters sees the top ten players in the South African Airways Champions Tour Rankings compete for a $100,000 winners’ prize. The field at the Royal Albert Hall in London will increase to 12 with the addition of two wild card invitations.
To be eligible to compete on the Merrill Lynch Tour of Champions, players must have been either a World No.1 during their competitive playing careers, a Grand Slam singles finalist or champion, or a singles player on a victorious Davis Cup team, and no longer active as a singles player on the ATP circuit. Each event can also invite two players of its choice to take wild cards.
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