November 23, 2007
Andres Gomez and Mats Wilander may be 47 and 43 respectively, but they showed that they still have ‘it’ in Sao Paulo on Friday. Gomez shocked No.2 ranked player Henri Leconte, while Wilander saw off his younger countryman, Magnus Larsson.
Gomez, who won the French Open in 1990 with a shock win against Andre Agassi, came back from a set down to defeat Leconte 3-6, 6-3, 10-8 (on a Champions’ Tie-Break). The man from Ecuador even returned from an 8-6 deficit in the Champions’ Tie-Break.
“It was a fun match,” said Gomez.
“We both like to go for shots and are both tricky players. Once you get in the groove you have to take as many points as you can! I think I served better than him today. I decided to take my chances and to be more aggressive in the Champions' Tie-break and it paid off.
Meanwhile, Wilander rolled back the years to surgically pick Larsson’s game apart. Wilander, the elder of the Swedes by six years, won 6-4, 6-3.
Elsewhere, Sergi Bruguera continued his relentless pursuit of a seventh title in 2007. He overcame Joao Cunha Silva 6-3, 6-4 in just 55 minutes to maintain his 100% record in Sao Paulo.
In the day’s final match, Argentine great Guillermo Vilas threw a clutch of trick-shots at Fernando Meligeni (pictured) which received standing ovations from the crowd, but Meligeni won through 6-4, 6-4. Like Bruguera, Meligeni also boasts a 100% record in the round-robin stages.
Players are divided into two groups of four. All players in each group will play each other over the first three days, and the players finishing top of each group will meet in the final. Those finishing second in each group will contest the 3rd/4th place play-off.
Matches are played over the best of three sets, with a Champions’ Tie-break (first to 10 points with a clear advantage of two) the winner.
After the Nossa Caixa Grand Champions Brasil in Sao Paulo the Tour arrives in London for the BlackRock Masters Tennis at the Royal Albert Hall (December 4-9).
