2010 AEGON Masters Tennis: Tuesday Review - Defending Champion Patrick Rafter beats Pat Cash
Within two days of the closing of the ATP regular season, the ATP Champions Tour also enters its season finale event. The weeklong event is going to be played at the popular UK venue, the Royal Albert Hall. It’s a chance for the “Old Ones” to come out one last time before their season wraps up. Along with defending champion Aussie Patrick Rafter, eleven more legends take to the courts in London. With the “Old Ones” divided into four groups, the season finale event follows a round robin (RR) format with two from each group advancing into the quarterfinal round at the end of the RR stage and then so on and so forth.
Kicking off the event was 2009 champion Rafter. Seeded first in the event, Rafter took on compatriot and friend, Patrick Cash. Enjoying a 6-4, 6-1 victory, Rafter brushed aside Cash to move to a 1-0 mark in the event. Cash next plays Todd Martin on Wednesday while Rafter will play Martin on Thursday.
Following Rafter and Cash in the afternoon session was former world number one Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov as he took on French Cedric Pioline. Doing away the Russian in two sets, Pioline enjoyed a 6-3, 6-4 win. Pioline next goes to meet Brit-Canadian Greg Rusedski on Wednesday while Kafelnikov faces Rusedski on Thursday.
The biggest happening of the day came in the form of Tim Henman’s debut in the Champions Tour. Having retired in 2007, Henman made his debut in the tour on Tuesday. While talking about his debut, Henman said, "For me there could be no better place to start playing tennis again than at the Royal Albert Hall in the AEGON Masters Tennis."
Henman met Moroccan Younes El Aynaoui for his debut match. Breaking service once, Henman won the first set 6-4. In the second set, El Aynaoui led 4-1 but then Henman found his lost form to take five games in a row winning the set 6-4. Enjoying a twin set score of 6-4, 6-4, Henman moves to a 1-0 win loss mark in the event. Henman next plays Croat Goran Ivanisevic on Wednesday in the evening session.
Talking about his debut match, Henman exhibited much positivity. A delighted Henman told the press, “It was a good start. I thought the quality of the tennis was pretty good so I was pleasantly surprised by that. I didn't really know what to expect because it’s been so long since I’ve played any competitive tennis so that was really good. It’s great playing at the Albert Hall as well because, there’s such a special atmosphere here.”
The final match of the day was between Swede Thomas Enqvist and local Jeremy Bates. Enqvist currently tops the Champions Tour rankings with 1900 points. As he wrapped up play for the day, Enqvist added another victory to his list after doing away with Bates despite the latter’s home court advantage. Although Enqvist enjoyed a comfortable win in the first set, winning it 6-3, Bates put up a fight when it came to the second set. Following closely at Enqvist’s heels, Bates managed to keep the score tied at 5-5. However, in the twentieth game, Enqvist caught a break and won two straight games to win the set 7-5.
Enqvist next plays Henri Leconte on Wednesday while Bates plays Leconte on Thursday.
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