2010 AEGON Masters Tennis: Quarterfinal Afternoon Review
Eight ‘Old Ones’ made it into the quarterfinal round on Thursday after the round-robin (RR) stage wrapped up at the 2010 AEGON Masters Tennis. The season finale event of the ATP Champions Tour is underway at the Royal Albert Hall
where tennis legends of the past compete one last time before the season draws to a close.
Making it into the quarters were defending champion Patrick Rafter, locals Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski, French Cedric Pioline and Henri Leconte, American Todd Martin and Croat Goran Ivanisevic. With the quarterfinal round divided
into two sessions, the afternoon session, like all the previous sessions of the week, had two quarterfinals along with a doubles exhibition performance.
Kicking off play for the day was Martin as he met Pioline for their quarterfinal match. Martin had moved into the quarterfinals with a 1-1 mark. Although he had won his opening match against Aussie Pat Cash on Wednesday by straight
sets, he had lost his second match to Rafter last night. Since Cash exited the event with a 0-2 mark, Martin automatically gained entry into the quarters round along with Rafter. His entry into the quarterfinal was ensured regardless of the result of his matchup
with Rafter. Martin is playing his first match of the season in the ATP Champions Tour.
Pioline on the other hand, had sailed into the quarterfinals with a perfect 2-0 win-loss mark in the event. Set against Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov in his opening match, Pioline rushed to a 1-0 mark enjoying a straight set win of
6-3, 6-4 over the Russian. His second match against Rusedski was however a tough one. With a one set win each, the match had gone into a Champions Tiebreak. Although Rusedski enjoyed the home crowd advantage, Pioline eventually did away with the Brit after
winning the tiebreak 10-8. The final score of the match was 6-3, 7-5, 10-8.
Pioline’s form and luck from the RR stage did not make it into the quarters today as he was forced to retire halfway into the second set on account of an injury. Pioline’s retirement from the match gave Martin an automatic pass
into the semis. The match ended at 3-6, 2-1 with the French clearly in the lead with seven games.
Following these two on the courts was the much-anticipated matchup of Ivanisevic and Rusedski. Rusedski had drawn into the same group as Pioline in the event, and after defeating Kafelnikov and forcing the latter’s exit from the
event with a 0-2 mark, Rusedski moved into the quarters with a 1-1 mark. Ivanisevic however, like Pioline, sailed into the quarters after winning his RR matches against Henman and Younes El Aynaoui.
Acclaimed rivals on the court, back in the day Ivanisevic led their head-to-head score 9-1 in the ATP regular tour. Even in the Champions Tour, Ivanisevic defeated Rusedski at Algarve earlier in the season. This was the only time
these two met this season.
Talking about his obviously tough matchup, Rusedski said, “My record against Goran is even worse than my record against Tim (Henman! It’s not a great record, I only ever beat him once on Tour. I played him on the Champions
Tour in the Algarve this year, he wasn’t playing too well and I still couldn’t beat him. Goran for me is always a challenge, I always find him a tough opponent.”
Unlike Pioline, Ivanisevic’s form and luck both were at his side in the quarters today. In a close battle between the two, both sets went into tiebreaks with the Croat emerging victorious in both of them. Enjoying a twin set score
7-6(6), 7-6(6), Ivanisevic sails into the semis enjoying a perfect record of 3-0 so far in the event.
With the singles done for the afternoon, the session was wrapped up by a doubles exhibition match between the Brit Moroccan duo of Jeremy Bates and El Aynaoui as they played the team of Mansour Bahrami and Kafelnikov. With Martin
and Ivanisevic making it into the semis, two spots now remained. Winners of the singles matches in the evening session will fill these spots.
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