BlackRock Tour of Champions debutant Pat Rafter has set up a mouth-watering showdown with Austrian Thomas Muster for a place in Saturday’s final after both players notched up impressive victories in Graz today.
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Rafter put in another confident performance to beat Frenchman Henri Leconte 6-3, 7-5 in the first match of the day. The Australian served and volleyed as if he were still on the grass courts at Wimbledon rather than the Austrian clay, and dominated Leconte to take the first set in just 30 minutes. After a topsy turvy opening to the second set which saw three consecutive breaks of serve, Rafter eventually looked to have the match wrapped up as he broke to lead 5-4. But Rafter allowed his opponent back into the match with a poor service game and Leconte took the opportunity to level the set at 5-5. The Frenchman’s reprieve was short-lived, however, as Rafter won 8 of the last 9 points in win the set 7-5.
After the match, Rafter admitted he was pleased to have beaten a tricky opponent.
“I felt pretty good,” he said. “He has so much talent that it’s hard to know what he is going to do. He came up with some beautiful shots and played very well I thought. It was a close match.”
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The win puts him top of Group A with Muster close behind. The Austrian won a closely-fought contest with Cedric Pioline. After an impressive display of serving from both men the first set was decided by a tie-break which the Frenchman won 7-5. Rain then interrupted play which seemed to be to the benefit of Muster as the Austrian came out firing in the second set, quickly racing to a 5-1 lead. After claiming the set 6-1, Muster carried his scintillating form into the Champions’ tie break which he won 10-1.
“I played really well today,” said Muster. “I was unlucky to lose the first set and then the rain break helped me. The court got slower and I carried the momentum after the break.”
Muster and Rafter will now meet on Friday for a place in Saturday’s final. They have history. In 1994, Rafter won a tempestuous match at the French Open, one year before Muster won the title at Roland Garros.
“I hope I feel good for Friday because it will be a great match,” said Rafter.
“We had a bit of a run-in at the first match we played at Roland Garros in 1994. He was one of the favorites having won a lot of tournaments beforehand and I played him in the third round. I was a young kid coming up and I was not supposed to be beating him on clay. I played the best tennis of my life back then and beat him. I think my father still has it on video! I’ll be coming to the net and he will be passing me. We will have some fun.”
Home favourite Muster will be hoping to reverse a 0-3 losing streak against the Australian.
“I’ve always played bad against him,” said Muster. “He’s breaking your rhythm and he covers the net completely so I have to return and pass well against him. I want to reach the final here at my home tournament but it will be a tough task. I’m very confident though, I’ve played well in the past weeks.”
TOP RANKED IVANISEVIC GOES DOWN TO GOELLNER
Goran Ivanisevic last played Marc Kevin Goellner in Hamburg in May and the match ended with the Croatian breaking two racquets in 30 seconds, and losing.
On Wednesday in Graz, Ivanisevic managed to keep his racquets mostly in-tact, but he lost again, this time 6-3, 3-6, 10-1 (Champions' Tie-break) to the German.
“I played like s***, really bad,” said Ivanisevic.
“I didn’t have any rhythm, I couldn’t even put a ball in the court. I had no rhythm in my serve. Conditions were good but I didn’t play good. I don’t know why, it just happened. Last week I played good so there is no reason to play like this.”
Today’s loss leaves Ivanisevic with a lot to do if he is to qualify for Saturday’s final and maintain his position at the top of the South African Airways Rankings. He will face group leader Michael Stich tomorrow in what will be a must-win match for the Croat.
All players in each group will play each other over the first four days, and the players finishing top of each group will meet each other 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) to decide the winner.
Two weeks ago in Istanbul, Ivanisevic won the Turkcell Legends Cup to move to No.1 in the South African Airways Champions Tour Rankings.
After Graz, the Tour will move on to Algarve, Portugal for the Vale do Lobo Grand Champions CGD (August 5-8).
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