Richard Krajicek moves into final, Carlos Moya wins opener – Optima Open 2011
Wrapping up their matches at the Rogers Legends Cup 2011 in Montreal earlier this month; the “Old Ones” return to tour as they compete at the 2011 Optima Open in Knokke-Heist, Belgium. Playing in only its second edition, the Optima
Open is part of the ATP Champions Tour featuring six of the best players the world has ever known.
A round robin format the event hosts two groups of three with the top two in each group progressing on into the final rounds of the event. This year’s line-up includes the 1996 Wimbledon Champion Richard Krajicek from The Netherlands,
clay court specialist Swede Bjorn Borg and seven-time Grand Slam champion, Frenchman Mats Wilander making up Group A. Group B includes recently retired and former world number one Carlos Moya from Spain, Frenchmen Henri Leconte and Guy Forget.
Kicking off action for the day was the 1996 Wimbledon Champion as he played Borg. Opening serve in the opener, Krajicek rushed to a three game lead as he broke the Swede in the second game. Riding that single breakpoint opportunity,
Krajicek maintained his lead to 5-3 before serving out the set and clinching a 6-3 win, going one up in the set score.
The second set started on a somewhat even footing with both players going toe-to-toe for the first eight games. It was only in the ninth game that Krajicek clinched a lucky break before once more serving out the set, securing a
6-4 win for himself.
Returning to the courts later in the day, Krajicek played the multiple Grand Slam champion, Wilander, for his second round robin match of the event. A little more resistance this time or perhaps tired out from the first match,
Krajicek was pushed to three sets before surviving a second set defeat and defeating Wilander in the Champion’s tiebreak registering a 7-6(5), 4-6, 10-1.
Sporting a 2-0 win loss record for the event, Krajicek now moves into the final match to be played on Saturday. This would be the Dutch’s first final on the Champions Tour in three years. His last year run here ended in the round
robin when he lost both of his matches to Forget and eventual champion, Goran Ivanisevic.
Elated to move into the final match, Krajicek said, “This feels very good. It’s pretty different to last year when I lost two matches on the first day and put myself completely out of the tournament, that wasn’t so good! But this
year I am fitter because I’ve been training lots out in Marbella so I’m feeling fit and healthy and playing well. The match with Mats was very tight and could have gone either way, especially as I was feeling a bit tired in the second set but I’m glad I came
through.”
Also playing in the day crowd favourite Leconte as he took on Moya. A last minute addition to the event, Moya replaced American legend John McEnroe after the latter pulled out of the event on account of a hip injury suffered at
the Legends Cup. In a straight, yet not so simple, sets victory, Moya battled it out against Leconte before securing a 7-6(5), 7-5 win.
Ranked second in the Champions Rankings, the Spaniard is playing in only his third event on tour having made his debut a few months back this year. A finalist at Bolivia and a winner at Sao Paulo, Moya looks to win another tournament
before the season ends.
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