Match Stats/Report - Agassi vs Gambill, Miami final, 2001

[Waspsting]

Andre Agassi beat Jan-Michael Gambill 7-6(4), 6-1, 6-0 in the Miami final, 2001 on hard court

Agassi had recently won the Australian Open and Indian Wells and this was his 4th title at the event. This would turn out to be Gambill's only Masters level final

Agassi won 91 points, Gambill 62

Serve Stats
Agassi...
- 1st serve percentage (61/80) 76%
- 1st serve points won (45/61) 74%
- 2nd serve points won (12/19) 63%
- Aces 8
- Double Faults 2
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (25/80) 31%

Gambill...
- 1st serve percentage (30/73) 41%
- 1st serve points won (22/30) 73%
- 2nd serve points won (17/43) 40%
- Aces 9 (1 second serve), Service Winners 1
- Double Faults 4
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (22/73) 30%

Serve Patterns
Agassi served...
- to FH 50%
- to BH 49%
- to Body 1%

Gambill served...
- to FH 35%
- to BH 62%
- to Body 3%

Return Stats
Agassi made...
- 47 (16 FH, 31 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 1 Winner (1 BH)
- 12 Errors, comprising...
- 2 Unforced (1 FH, 1 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 10 Forced (2 FH, 8 BH)
- Return Rate (47/69) 68%

Gambill made...
- 53 (24 FH, 29 BH), including 5 return-approaches
- 17 Errors, comprising...
- 11 Unforced (5 FH, 6 BH), including 1 return-approach
- 6 Forced (4 FH, 2 BH)
- Return Rate (53/78) 68%

Break Points
Agassi 6/8 (6 games)
Gambill 1/1

Winners (excluding serves, including returns)
Agassi 18 (9 FH, 7 BH, 1 FHV, 1 BHV)
Gambill 14 (4 FH, 6 BH, 2 FHV, 1 BHV, 1 OH)

Agassi's FHs - 6 cc (3 passes), 2 dtl at net and 1 longline/inside-out at net
- BHs - 2 cc passes, 3 dtl (1 pass), 1 inside-out pass at net and 1 inside-in return pass

Gambill's FHs - 3 cc (1 pass) and 1 inside-in
- BHs - 5 cc and 1 dtl

- 1 from a serve-volley point, a second volley BHV that was played net-to-net
- 1 from a return-approach point, a FHV

Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Agassi 24
- 17 Unforced (13 FH, 4 BH)
- 7 Forced (3 FH, 4 BH)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 45.3

Gambill 44
- 29 Unforced (14 FH, 12 BH, 1 FHV, 2 BHV)
- 15 Forced (10 FH, 4 BH, 1 BHV)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 48.6

(Note 1: all half-volleys refer to such shots played at net. Half -volleys played from other parts of the court are included within relevant groundstroke counts)

(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...
- 11/13 (85%) at net, with...
- 1/1 retreated

Gambill was...
- 8/21 (38%) at net, including...
- 1/5 (20%) serve-volleying, comprising...
- 0/3 (0%) off 1st serve and...
- 1/2 off 2nd serve
---
- 2/5 (40%) return-approaching

Match Report
Solid baseline showing from Agassi, particularly off the BH. The big serving Gambill hangs in for a set and then falls off as his first serve percentage drops - and then keeps falling, regardless of it. Court is about normal for hard court. Not slow like Miami usually is

Serve & Return
Decent serving from Agassi. 76% in is huge and it actually falls to that amount. After 2 sets, the count was 82%. As you'd expect with a count that high, he's not doing much with the serve. Mostly solid, in swing zone stuff. He does have it in him to to bang down a damaging serve as 8 aces testify to (just 1 less than the huge serving Gambill). Even throws in the occasional fast second serve

Still, 31% unreturned rate (1% higher than Gambill) is flattering to him. Note 11/17 Gambill return errors being marked unforced. Gambill frequently goes for very attacking, dtl return winners and misses virtually every time. He doesn't have any winners. The thinking isn't bad. He's being worn down in baseline rallies to the tune of losing bulk of points, so he has to do something proactive with the the return to start rallies with an advantage. And Agassi's serve, if not weak, is attackable. Its the execution that's off. He forces errors with a small number of dtl returns (about 2 or 3) with maybe a couple more initiative grabbing returns (Agassi also hits a couple of point ending shots from defensive third ball positions)... but more UEs going for the attacking return than is worth it

He also return-approaches 5 times, including once against first serve. He's poor at net all match, Agassi's very strong on the pass... its not likely to end well for him, but again, worth the shot given how play goes. What does he have to lose? Wins 2/5 such points

When he returns normally, Gambill does ok putting ball in play without leaving easy third ball. And then they rally

Some huge serving from Gambill, including big second serving. But just 41% first serves in. He doesn't appear to be going for too much or unduly looking for aces/service winners. Just poor consistency on the serve. HIs first serve is often unreturnable. Seconds are about as strong as Agassi's typical first serve

Some pretty good, poking wide serves back in play from Agassi. Generally, not a strength of his game. Must be reading the serve. Otherwise, he thumps balls back as he likes to firmly and consistently, which isn't particularly easy against the big second serves. And then they rally

 

[Waspsting]

Play - Baseline (& Net)
Play is almost all baseline stuff and Agassi leads with BH cc's. And keeps biffing balls that way over and over. Not overly hard, though not gently either... you could say his hitting is dead in the middle between beat-down and out-lasting play. He typically takes ball on up, but isn't unduly determined to not fall back either. When Gambill hits back deep, Agassi hops back if warranted to play his next BH cc

Just 4 BH UEs from Agassi is standout stat for the match. Other groundies on show are all clumped together -
- Gambill BH 12
- Agassi FH 13
- Gambill FH 14

... and with Agassi dictating play and keeping things BH-BH as much as possible, his advantage off that side gives him advantage in play overall. Gambill isn't able to change the staple BH cc rally. Not bad BH'ng from Gambill either, who hits hard and doesn't give up easy UEs. Rallies go on for awhile. He's apt to blink first off neutral rallies as stats show... and thus, also goes in for aggressive shots. All 6 of Gambill's BH winners are baseline-to-baseline shots, 5 of them cc. Agassi has just 2, both dtl and both late in match when he's far and away in the lead

Good movement from both players and decent on the run from Gambill (Agassi doesn't have to run as much, though is up to it when he does). There's typical Agassi moving-opponent around play. Gambill tends to run down a few balls (i.e. doesn't give up the error easily), but Agassi just keeps him moving with the next shot until the error comes. Decent from Gambill in this area, better from Agassi

Agassi finishing with 7 winners to 4 UEs on BH. Rare for that shot to have more winners than UEs. Its based on great consistency of shot. Its not unduly damaging and 5 of the winners are 'forced' winners (i.e. passing shots)

FH-FH makes up minority of play, by Agassi's choice. Those rallies are about even. Gambill has a two handed FH

Gambill makes most of situation when his serve gives him strong initiative and strikes winners from the back. He's got 9 baseline-to-baseline winners

Smart game from Gambill. Outmatched of power and consistency, onus is on him to be the aggressor. He tries from the back, but usually can't execute. It would be difficult to do so against Agassi's heavy, regulation shots. Neutral UEs are near same (Agassi 12, Gambill 14), but Gambill has many more of more attacking variety (15 to Agassi's 5). He's pushed to go for that, so some credit to Agassi. He also misses a good number of sloppy attacking third balls - discredit to Gambill for that

Gambill looks for net to attack too. Nothing comes off it. He's poor on the volley and Agassi is outstanding on the pass - Gambill wins just 38% net points, and is largely discouraged from coming in. His groundies are strong enough and volleying poor that for him, it isn't an idea that suggests itself to counter. Agassi's 85% net points won are mostly about overwhelmingly strong approach shots and good lot of his small 13 approaches are of the insurance policy variety

Match Progression
Poor game by Gambill to get broken to start the match. He breaks back middle of the set with Agassi's FH making 3 UEs. All set, its the FH that misses for Agassi. Other than that, comfortable holds for both players in the set, Gambill more

Gambill takes 2-0 lead in tiebreak and does very well to put back in play a very powerful baseline OH on bounce from Agassi and get point back to neutral the point after. He misses an ambitious, but not silly BH inside-out winner attempt from inside court to lose the point though. And hands back mini-break going extra wide with a BH cc in a BH-BH rally

Agassi with a superb net point where he hits 3 volleys - the last to a low-ish, wide and powerful pass for a BHV winner. and he gain the decisive mini-break when Gambill misses FH dtl winner attempt and goes out to serve out the set

Terrible game by Gambill to lose serve and go down 0-2 in second set. He only makes 5/19 first serves for the set as Agassi sweeps it up

Gambill's first serve in count returns to 8/19 in last set, which is about the same as the 17/35 he made in first set. By that stage though, he seems a bit down mentally and Agassi is more commanding from back, while Gambill is more prone to loose errors than earlier in match. Gambill hadn't been too secure all match, but his groundgame descends to outright loose, often missing attacking third balls. Agassi takes to attacking with FH. Previously, he'd kept play to heavy BH'ng as staple. Its not necessarily an improvement, but Gambill's game has also fallen by this stage. Agassi returns with more authority too as he finishes with a bagel

Summing up, commanding baseline play from Agassi, with the BH particularly firm and steady. Gambill's mildly out-powered and out-manuvered from back and regularly outlasted and takes to going for winners from regulation positions (including with the return) or coming to net to make up the slack without success. Some sloppiness from Gambill, but more solidly impressive from Agassi than that

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