Match Stats/Report - Agassi vs Bruguera, Paris semi-final, 1994

Waspsting

Hall of Fame
Andre Agassi beat Sergi Bruguera 6-4, 6-4 in the Paris semi-final, 1994 on carpet

Agassi would go onto beat Marc Rosset in the final. Bruguera had won the French Open earlier in the year

Agassi won 75 points, Bruguera 68

Serve Stats
Agassi ...
- 1st serve percentage (39/64) 61%
- 1st serve points won (28/39) 72%
- 2nd serve points won (15/25) 60%
- Aces 1
- Double Faults 1
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (12/64) 19%

Bruguera...
- 1st serve percentage (44/79) 56%
- 1st serve points won (32/44) 73%
- 2nd serve points won (15/35) 43%
- Aces 11
- Double Faults 2
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (27/79) 34%

Serve Patterns
Agassi served...
- to FH 52%
- to BH 44%
- to Body 3%

Bruguera served...
- to FH 25%
- to BH 75%

Return Stats
Agassi made...
- 50 (17 FH, 33 BH), including 6 runaround FHs & 2 return-approaches
- 3 Winners (2 FH, 1 BH), including 2 runaround FHs
- 16 Errors, comprising...
- 8 Unforced (5 FH, 3 BH), including 2 runaround FHs
- 8 Forced (3 FH, 5 BH)
- Return Rate (50/77) 65%

Bruguera made...
- 51 (32 FH, 19 BH), including 4 runaround FHs
- 11 Errors, comprising...
- 7 Unforced (5 FH, 2 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 4 Forced (2 FH, 2 BH)
- Return Rate (51/63) 81%

Break Points
Agassi 3/10 (4 games)
Bruguera 1/6 (3 games)

Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Agassi 17 (5 FH, 4 BH, 5 FHV, 1 BHV, 1 OH, 1 BHOH)
Bruguera 16 (10 FH, 5 BH, 1 OH)

Agassi's FHs - 1 cc, 1 dtl pass, 1 runaround dtl/inside-out return, 1 runaround inside-in return and 1 net chord dribbler
- BHs - 3 dtl (1 return) and 1 longline

Bruguera's FHs - 4 cc (2 passes), 2 dtl, 2 inside-out (1 pass), 1 longline pass and 1 drop shot at net
- BHs - 2 cc, 2 dtl and 1 inside-out

- the OH was on the bounce from the baseline

Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Agassi 24
- 21 Unforced (11 FH, 9 BH, 1 FHV)
- 3 Forced (2 FH, 1 BH)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 49.5

Bruguera 44
- 27 Unforced (13 FH, 13 BH, 1 FHV)
- 17 Forced (10 FH, 7 BH)... with 1 FH running-down-drop-shot at net
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 45.6

(Note 1: All 1/2 volleys refer to such shots played at net. 1/2 volleys played from other parts of the court are included within relevant groundstroke numbers)

(Note 2: the Unforced Error Forcefulness Index is an indicator of how aggressive the average UE was. The numbers presented for these two matches are keyed on 4 categories - 20 defensive, 40 neutral, 50 attacking and 60 winner attempt)

Net Points & Serve-Volley
Agassi was...
- 16/21 (76%) at net, including...
- 1/1 serve-volleying, a 1st serve
---
- 0/2 return-approaching

Bruguera was 2/6 (33%) at net

Match Report
A very hard hitting showing from Agassi on a slow but low bouncing carpet. Baseline action is clay court-ish of nature - Agassi hammering balls, Bruguera hanging in rallies and retrieving. The kind of action that's usually decided by whether the aggressor can finish more points hitting hard or ends up making more errors doing the same

Key difference in play is forced errors. Agassi forces 17, Bruguera can manage just 3, which is unusual in light of winners being near equal (Agassi 17, Bruguera 16)

Agassi essentially plays to force errors, hammering the ball hard off and to both sides. Its beat-down play, not outlast. He also moves Bruguera about, but that's secondary to beating down. Its no easy job because Bruguera scampers and hits back with high net clearance. Agassi hits flat and hard but usually not overly wide. Hence, not many winners, relative to forcing errors

If Agassi's winner count is low for being the aggressor, Bruguera's is very high as the counter-puncher. He's driven to going for point killing shots to get away from the hammering. And some of the shots he pulls of are spectacular - a FH inside-out from regulation position, a very rare BH inside-out, a BH cc from center of the baseline. He also misses 6 winner attempts to Agassi's 3. The shot making is effective and a class above Agassi's... but part of small minority. Most of the time, he's just counter-punching

Defence is important too and both players excel. Bruguera has no choice but to. He's sweating buckets before end of first set. Just coping with Agassi power, taking balls from baseline or inside it, is tough. Throw being moved side to side on top of that and its a huge challenge. Bruguera manages and doesn't give up the errors easily. Within the dynamic of moving-around play, court opens up for him to counter-attack - and Agassi also has to be swift. Which he his

Unable to finish points from back as he'd like, Agassi takes to coming to net. He's very impressive 15/18 coming in from rallies and knocks away 8 volley/OH winners. They're almost all easy shots well above net. More credit to his baseline bossing, which organically allows for very strong approach shots, then volleying. I'd call it poor volleying had he not finished those points, not good volleying because he did - but credit also for making the move forward. In general, he has the tendency to not do so when in charge from the back but unable to finish consistently from there

On the UE front, Agassi has 21, Bruguera 27. This is in the context of Agassi beating down Sergi

UEFI has captured colour of play well. Agassi's is a very high 49.5, Sergi's is middling 45.6. Breakdown of UEs -
- Neutral - Agassi 4, Bruguera 17
- Attacking - Agassi 14, Bruguera 5
- Winner Attempts - Agassi 3, Bruguera 5

Neutrally, Agassi leads with BH cc. His nominal 'neutral' shot is better described as 'pressuring', if not attacking. Consequently, Bruguera's 'neutral' shot becomes 'resistant', if not defensive. At any rate, Sergi doesnt' give much ground behind baseline, maintaining his position regardless

Behind all that is the serve-return complex. Agassi does little with first shot as low 19% unreturned serves indicate. He does make most of Bruguera chipping regulation FH returns back to pound third ball
Excellent 34% unreturned rate by Sergi, including 11 aces. The downside is whatever Agassi returns he does heftily at least neutralizing servers advantage and often, snatching it

Match Progression
Error strewn first set with just the one break. Some deep shots from Agassi cause trouble, but more a case of Bruguera's being worn down and making errors in it

Bruguera lets loose with a couple of stunning FH winners and has his first break point as Agassi serves for the set. He takes charge of the point too and aims for point finishing FH inside-out from edge of court. Agassi manages to redirect the ball BH dtl for a winner and goes on to close out the set

Agassi takes charge from baseline in the second. He's already up a break by game 5 and has 0-40 to make it 2 breaks. That game goes on for 20 points before Bruguera holds. Curiously, Agassi has no further break points in it after first deuce. He does break again next return game and steps up to serve out match

Bruguera lets loose with a pair of BH winners - 1 dtl, 1 cc - and breaks when Agassi misses a FHV. Agassi tanks the game after - he's walking to his chair as Bruguera serves at 40-0

Agassi serves out second time of asking, but its tough. He converts his first match point - which he doesn't see before saving 4 more break points. It takes a double net chord dribbler winner to bring it up - Agassi's FH pops up of the top of the net, lands on the net again and dribbles over. On match point, he overpowers Bruguera, comes in and dispatches a BHOH

Summing, hard hitting baseline match. Agassi is the baseline boss, Bruguera is strained to hang in counter-punching and moved to go in for some excellent shot making. Agassi though, remains the boss

Stats for the final between Agassi and Marc Rosset - https://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/ind...ort-agassi-vs-rosset-paris-final-1994.671944/
Stats for '94 Vienna final between Agassi and Michael Stich - https://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/ind...ort-agassi-vs-stich-vienna-final-1994.667335/
 
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