An overview of the Chengdu Open 2010
Tennis legends once retired are never forgotten. ATP Champions Tour brings together these legends all year round on different occasions for nostalgic and entertaining matches. The current event scheduled for “The Old Ones” is the
Chengdu Open, being held in China. 8 retired professionals are playing in this tournament. Alongside American legend Pete Sampras and the Aussie giant Patrick Rafter there is also Paradorn Srichaphan, Patrick Cash, Thomas Enqvist, Guy Forget, Greg Rusedski
and finally, Yevgeny Kafelnikov.
The players were drawn into two round robin groups with Group A comprising of Sampras, Srichaphan, Forget and Cash while, Group B comprising of Rafter, Enqvist, Rusedski and Kafelnikov. Each player will play each member of his
group and the winner of each group will then play in the final. Chengdu Open is a four day event with two days of play already completed.
Sampras had this to say about the event and its players, "The competition is exciting with this level of tennis, we're still very competitive and I think we're all looking forward to it. Enqvist is still very fit and he is a little
bit younger than the rest of us. He is very strong and I've played him a few times in my career and he plays very well, and hits the ball well. Srichaphan has just retired so he is going to be very tough. I'm really looking forward to it."
On Thursday, Sampras played and defeated Cash in an easy straight set win of 6-1, 6-3. It was a bad day for the Aussies as Rafter also lost his match to former British no.1 Rusedski with a match score of 6-1, 6-4. Although Srichaphan
just retired this year, he still was no match for the years of experience that Forget brought to the court and lost the match 6-4, 7-6(1). Former Russian no.1 Kafelnikov also lost his match to Enqvist, the only Swede to have followed in the footsteps of legend
Bjorn Borg. The final match score was 6-3,6-4.
Friday saw four more exciting and memorable matches as the legends were once again pitted against one another. Sampras was once again victorious as he defeated Forget with a match score of 7-6, 6-3. The Aussies were once again
unlucky as both Cash and Rafter lost their matches. Kafelnikov had a straight set win over Rafter with the final score of 6-3, 6-4. Cash played Srichaphan and the match went into tie break with Srichaphan ultimately winning the game with a set score of 6-4,
5-7, 10-5. Although Cash tried to make a comeback in the second set, however he ultimately lost the game. Brit superstar Rusedski was again victorious as he defeated Enqvist with a set score of 7-6, 3-6, 10-7. This was the second match of the event to go into
tiebreak. The Swede tried his level best to bounce back after winning the second set but he could not stand his ground and was ultimately defeated by Rusedski.
With two more days of play still to look forward to, we might witness more memorable and unforgettable matches that will be a testament to the past performances of these legends.
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