2010 AEGON Masters Tennis: Wednesday Afternoon Session Review
The “Old Ones” take to the court once more at the Royal Albert Hall, London. Champions continue to clash as the round-robin (RR) stage continues at the season finale event of the ATP Champions Tour.
Kicking off play for the day were French Cedric Pioline and Brit Canadian Greg Rusedski. Their last season finale event was in 2008 when they played the final match, with Pioline emerging victorious after the match went into Champions’
Tiebreak. The match score was 6-7(4), 7-6(3), 11-9. Rusedski met with a wave of supporters playing his opening match in the event on Wednesday. However, it seems the support was not enough for the Brit as history once again repeated itself. With the match
again going into Champions’ Tiebreak, Pioline emerged victorious. Although he lost the first set 3-6, Rusedski bounced back in the second set to fight back against Pioline’s advances. In a close battle, Rusedski won the second set 7-5. With one set win each,
the match entered the Champions’ Tiebreak. Both players were engaged in a tooth and nail battle, determined to not give up the lead. Neither player caught a break until sixteen points with the score tied at 8-8. With the score tied at 8-8, Pioline finally
caught a break to win two consecutive points winning the tiebreaker 10-8.
Defeating Rusedski, Pioline moved to a 2-0 mark in the event and became the first player to qualify for the quarterfinal. He had earlier defeated Yevgeny Kafelnikov in their opening match. Rusedski must defeat Kafelnikov if he
has any hopes of moving into the quarterfinals.
Following Pioline and Rusedski in the afternoon session were Swede legend Thomas Enqvist and Henri Leconte. An interesting fact about Enqvist in the event is that he is playing with a borrowed kit and a borrowed racquet. With his
luggage getting lost on the way, Enqvist played Tuesday’s match and Wednesday’s as well with borrowed stuff. Although an inconvenience, it did not affect the Swede’s ability on the court in any way since he managed victories on both occasions.
Henri Leconte joined the event after Mark Philippoussis pulled out due to an injury. Playing his opening match in the event, Leconte was met with disappointment after he suffered defeat at Enqvist’s hands in straight sets. Although
it was a close battle, Enqvist finally emerged victorious with a 7-6(5), 7-5. Leconte can find consolation in the fact that he just lost by two games. Taking the first set into a tiebreaker and then following closely at Enqvist’s heels in the second set, Leconte
definitely put up some fight for the Swede legend. However, in the end the better player won. It is no wonder that the Swede is currently at the top of the ATP Champions Tour Rankings.
Enqvist joins Rusedski in the quarterfinal with a perfect 2-0 mark. He had defeated local Jeremy Bates in their opening match on Tuesday. Leconte will now play Bates on Thursday in a must win clash. The winner of this match will
join Enqvist and Rusedski in the quarterfinals.
With the most anticipated match of Tim Henman and Goran Ivanisevic yet to come in the evening session, the afternoon session was summed up with Enqvist’s and Pioline’s victory. The quarterfinal round will begin on Friday after
the RR stage finishes up on Thursday.
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