John McEnroe overcame Bjorn Borg to win the highly anticipated battle of the legends at the BlackRock Tour of Champions event in Belfast on Friday.

In a classic encounter between the greatest of rivals, McEnroe emerged a 7-6(3), 7-5 winner in front of a sellout crowd at the Odyssey Arena.

“When we play, it’s just a different league,” said McEnroe. “The whole time I’ve been here I was thinking about playing Bjorn. When I play, I feel like my goal is to be like the Rolling Stones of tennis, and when I play against Bjorn, that’s when I reach that magic, that’s my pinnacle.”

The match began with some inspirational tennis from both players, with the contrast between baseliner and serve-volleyer capturing the crowd’s imagination.

There was little to separate the two in the first set, with both players comfortably holding serve to force a tie-break, stirring memories of their classic 1980 Wimbledon final fourth-set. Just as he did then, it was McEnroe who took it as he stepped up his game to win it 7-3, producing one of his many aces on set point.

In the second, it was Borg who made the first breakthrough on serve, producing a running forehand pass to bring McEnroe to his knees as the Swede took a 2-1 lead. However, McEnroe broke back to level at 3-3 and just when it seemed to be heading towards another tie-break, the American piled on the pressure in the 12th game. Borg saved one match point with a serve-volley of his own, but on the second, McEnroe attacked the net and his forehand volley behind the Swede was reminiscent of his own Wimbledon victory over Borg in 1981.

“It brings back those memories, even for me,” said McEnroe. “On the second match point, I just said I was going to come in like I did on the Wimbledon match point when I won, I just came in with pretty much the same play with the volley behind him and just said, ‘who knows, maybe I’ll get lucky’. I can’t help thinking about it, and I think people are there seeing what we have to offer, sort of reminiscing.”

Despite the loss, Borg thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere and another opportunity to face his old rival. “It was a very good match with a lot of good points,” said the 51-year-old. “When we play we usually play good tennis, but we both had a good day and it was a great atmosphere out there. I think they enjoyed it very much and we could feel the atmosphere too.

“It always comes down to close matches, we know each other’s games pretty well. I’m pleased with the way I was playing and how the match turned out, but you always want to win.”

McEnroe will now have to defeat Jeremy Bates on Saturday to have a chance of reaching the final after the Briton overcame Mikael Pernfors 6-4, 6-4 earlier in the day.

Elsewhere at the Odyssey Arena on Friday, defending champion Anders Jarryd continued his impressive form with a straight sets victory over former Wimbledon champion Pat Cash, while Chris Wilkinson registered his first win of the week after defeating Henri Leconte.

For further Belfast event information and ticket details, go to:
http://www.odysseyarena.com/tennis-legends-2008.html