Match Stats/Report - Agassi-Wilander, Canadian Open semi-final, 1995

[Waspsting]

Andre Agassi beat Mats Wilander 6-2, 6-0 in the Canadian Open semi-final, 1995 on hard court in Montreal

Agassi would go onto beat Pete Sampras in the final for the title. Wilander was unseeded, ranked 102 and beat seeds Stefan Edberg, Wayne Ferreira and Yevgeny Kafelnikov in succession en route to the semi

Agassi won 56 points, Wilander 28

Serve Stats
Agassi...
- 1st serve percentage (27/43) 63%
- 1st serve points won (22/27) 81%
- 2nd serve points won (9/16) 56%
- Aces 1, Service Winners 1
- Double Faults 2
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (5/43) 12%

Wilander....
- 1st serve percentage (25/41) 61%
- 1st serve points won (13/25) 52%
- 2nd serve points won (3/16) 19%
- Double Faults 1
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (6/41) 15%

Serve Patterns
Agassi served...
- to FH 37%
- to BH 61%
- to Body 2%

Wilander served....
- to FH 40%
- to BH 40%
- to Body 20%

Return Stats
Agassi made...
- 34 (25 FH, 9 BH), including 4 runaround FHs
- 1 Winner (1 FH)
- 6 Errors, all forced...
- 6 Forced (2 FH, 4 BH)
- Return Rate (34/40) 85%

Wilander made...
- 36 (14 FH, 22 BH), including 1 runaround FH & 1 return-approach
- 3 Errors, all forced...
- 3 Forced (2 FH, 1 BH)
- Return Rate (36/41) 88%

Break Points
Agassi 5/6 (6 games)
Wilander 0/1

Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Agassi 20 (13 FH, 4 BH, 1 FHV, 1 FH1/2V, 1 BHV)
Wilander 3 (1 BH, 2 FHV)

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

- the FHV was a non-net, swinging shot

Wilander's BH - 1 lob

- 1 from a serve-volley point - a first volley FHV

Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Agassi 17
- 12 Unforced (7 FH, 5 BH)
- 5 Forced (3 FH, 2 BH)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 45

Wilander 30
- 18 Unforced (4 FH, 13 BH, 1 BHV)
- 12 Forced (5 FH, 7 BH)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 44.4

(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 6/6 (100%) at net

Wilander was...
- 10/17 (59%) at net, including...
- 5/8 (63%) serve-volleying, all 1st serves
---
- 0/1 return-approaching

Match Report
The scoreline and points total speak for themselves - a thorough thrashing. Court is slow and its very windy. The bottom of net is constantly flapping and the ball being blown off course or held up is visible. Doesn't seem to bother Agassi

Of action Agassi pounds groundstrokes, Mats reactively pushes them back. Mats comes to net, Agassi pounds passes

Pounding groundies, Agassi hits 11 winners, forces most of Mats' 13 errors and a good chunk of Mats 18 UEs are against hard enough hit balls as to not be straight forward to put in play. Especially given when they are put back in play, the next one comes down just as hard

Doing all that, Agassi has just 12 UEs

Mats initially plays from the baseline. His shots are steady, but lacking in power. Agassi's able to quickly turn a neutral rally into one where he's pounding balls and Mats is left counter-punching

Agassi being the more powerful of groundies is no surprise... the possible competitive battle would be consistency. Mats has 17 groundstroke UEs, Agassi 12. As noted earlier, Mats are often on the hard side of being unforced - beaten down type errors - Agassi are not

UEFI does not demonstrate this. Agassi with a moderate score of 45, Mats a shade lower at 44.4. Agassi's attacking shot and neutral shot are near one. Mats' shots by contrast are very much neutral

Still, its Mats who has 3 winner attempt errors to Agassi's 1.... Agassi doesn't miss when trying to kill points

To be clear, against relatively hard hit shots or not... Mats UEs are still UEs, a lack of consistency that would have been alien to his play in years past. Agassi pressures him some - just as Lendl used to - and he can't handle it

Couple of small surprises. 56% second serve points won by Agassi is lower than you'd think, given scoreline. Sans 2 double faults, it'd be 64%. Mats' is a horrendous 19%

Agassi serves pretty hard at times, and Mats returns consistently to tune of 88% return rate. A good number. Mats serve is average - the return errors he draws is a product of serve-volleying

Mats makes life harder on himself by regularly serving to Agassi's FH (he serves 40% to either side, the rest to the body). He always goes BH when serve-volleying, which means he goes more to FH than BH when staying back. These serves get pounded, even the body serves. Mats is serve is such that Agassi's even able to runaround first serves to pound FHs, without premeditation. Not the sort of serve one wants to be directing at Andre Agassi's FH

Both players return all second serves @krosero

Note Mats winning 5/8 points serve-volleying and 5/8 coming off rallies. Good numbers. He only serve-volleys in ad court where the serve out wide goes to Agassi's BH. Not much going on on the volley. Couple of easy winners, just 1 error and Agassi makes the pass winer when he doesn't miss it

Highlights would be a perfectly controlled FH1/2V winner, backaway FH inside-out return winner against a body serve and a casual FH lob. The last mentioned is on match point, with Mats chip-charging the serve. Ball is short, Agassi could do what he wants with it and elects for a flashy cc lob... he's walking briskly to net to shake Mats' hand as soon as he hits it, though it ends up only just landing in. Earlier in the game, someone from the crowd yelled out, "Give him a break, Andre", and Agassi tries to conceal his amusement at the comment without complete success

Seeing Mats get bullied like this makes one wonder how he played in beating Stefan Edberg, Wayne Ferreira and Yevgeny Kafelnikov as he'd done to reach this match

Summing up, full on beat down as Agassi rains down heavy groundstrokes on Wilander, who struggles to cope and isn't particularly consistent neutrally either. Some counter-play via taking net by Mats, it wasn't likely to change action much

Stats for final between Agassi and Pete Sampras - https://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/ind...i-vs-sampras-canadian-open-final-1995.645682/

 

[NicoMK]

Andre Agassi beat Mats Wilander 6-2, 6-0 in the Canadian Open semi-final, 1995 on hard court in Montreal
Agassi would go onto beat Pete Sampras in the final for the title. Wilander was unseeded, ranked 102 and beat seeds Stefan Edberg, Wayne Ferreira and Yevgeny Kafelnikov in succession en route to the semi
Summing up, full on beat down as Agassi rains down heavy groundstrokes on Wilander, who struggles to cope and isn't particularly consistent neutrally either. Some counter-play via taking net by Mats, it wasn't likely to change action much

Interesting, thank you for putting this on-line. Usually there's not much to say about a 6-2 6-0 result except maybe "too good" but you proved me wrong

Seeing Mats get bullied like this makes one wonder how he played in beating Stefan Edberg, Wayne Ferreira and Yevgeny Kafelnikov as he'd done to reach this match

Well, he must have played very well…

Maybe we have to consider two-three things. Firstly, during that summer in 1995, Andre was at his peak, he was the number one and he was playing superbly well. Mats was playing better since spring -- played well in Key Biscayne, pushed Wayne Ferreira to five thrilling sets at the French and he also did well in New Heaven a few weeks after Montreal, making the semis and losing 3 and 3 to Agassi, again. This match was a much better encounter by the way.

Having said that, Mats was far from his highest level so, for that Montreal match, this explains that I think. Congratulations to Agassi who was just far too good that day.

Same question again @Waspsting : have you seen the full match on video? I have it on an old VHS tape but I would be delighted to save it on my hard drive. Also, I have never ever seen his previous matches in that same tournament and I would love to keep records of them. After all, they were Mats' last great performances before he retires one year after. Thanks!

 

[HBK4life]

Interesting, thank you for putting this on-line. Usually there's not much to say about a 6-2 6-0 result except maybe "too good" but you proved me wrong



Well, he must have played very well…

Maybe we have to consider two-three things. Firstly, during that summer in 1995, Andre was at his peak, he was the number one and he was playing superbly well. Mats was playing better since spring -- played well in Key Biscayne, pushed Wayne Ferreira to five thrilling sets at the French and he also did well in New Heaven a few weeks after Montreal, making the semis and losing 3 and 3 to Agassi, again. This match was a much better encounter by the way.

Having said that, Mats was far from his highest level so, for that Montreal match, this explains that I think. Congratulations to Agassi who was just far too good that day.

Same question again @Waspsting : have you seen the full match on video? I have it on an old VHS tape but I would be delighted to save it on my hard drive. Also, I have never ever seen his previous matches in that same tournament and I would love to keep records of them. After all, they were Mats' last great performances before he retires one year after. Thanks!

You should put this match on YouTube.

 

[krosero]

Both players return all second serves @krosero

Very good, I think this is the first match we've come across in which both players do this.

 

[Waspsting]

Interesting, thank you for putting this on-line. Usually there's not much to say about a 6-2 6-0 result except maybe "too good" but you proved me wrong



Well, he must have played very well…

Maybe we have to consider two-three things. Firstly, during that summer in 1995, Andre was at his peak, he was the number one and he was playing superbly well. Mats was playing better since spring -- played well in Key Biscayne, pushed Wayne Ferreira to five thrilling sets at the French and he also did well in New Heaven a few weeks after Montreal, making the semis and losing 3 and 3 to Agassi, again. This match was a much better encounter by the way.

Having said that, Mats was far from his highest level so, for that Montreal match, this explains that I think. Congratulations to Agassi who was just far too good that day.

Same question again @Waspsting : have you seen the full match on video? I have it on an old VHS tape but I would be delighted to save it on my hard drive. Also, I have never ever seen his previous matches in that same tournament and I would love to keep records of them. After all, they were Mats' last great performances before he retires one year after. Thanks!

Nico, many apologies for delay in responding... I saw this message when you posted it, but then forgot amidst posting a bunch of matches on other side of forum

Unfortunately, I don't have this match in format that could be saved to hard drive, or the Mats' matches preceding it
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What got me curious about how Mats advanced this far was his play is very ordinary here

Probably the most eye-catching thing about Mats' game from his best years is his consistency. The guy's up there with Borg and Nadal for never-misses-a-ball tennis... which he couples with knowing just where to hit, without hitting a particularly heavy ball

He doesn't show that kind of consistency here. And there's basically no 'good side' to go to to Agassi. So his baseline game looks like just-putting-balls-in-play, sans the consistency part

- I wouldn't expect that to cut it against Kafelnikov in particular. Edberg... could be great passing, or Edberg having a stinker in forecourt. Ferreira I don't remember much about, but a tough opponent too

I don't think Mats' game was one likely to age well, the way a fading big servers might

Still, certainly a good run for 102 rank

 

[NicoMK]

Nico, many apologies for delay in responding... I saw this message when you posted it, but then forgot amidst posting a bunch of matches on other side of forum

Unfortunately, I don't have this match in format that could be saved to hard drive, or the Mats' matches preceding it
---

What got me curious about how Mats advanced this far was his play is very ordinary here

Probably the most eye-catching thing about Mats' game from his best years is his consistency. The guy's up there with Borg and Nadal for never-misses-a-ball tennis... which he couples with knowing just where to hit, without hitting a particularly heavy ball

He doesn't show that kind of consistency here. And there's basically no 'good side' to go to to Agassi. So his baseline game looks like just-putting-balls-in-play, sans the consistency part

- I wouldn't expect that to cut it against Kafelnikov in particular. Edberg... could be great passing, or Edberg having a stinker in forecourt. Ferreira I don't remember much about, but a tough opponent too

I don't think Mats' game was one likely to age well, the way a fading big servers might

Still, certainly a good run for 102 rank

Hey Waspting,

Well, sadly I never had the opportunity to watch Mats' previous matches in that tournament. One day hopefully. As I said, Mats was playing better since March that year -- ok, nothing close to his best years but still playing well. For that tourney in Montreal, I remember reading articles in he played great in his previous matches, especially against Kafelnikov.

My opinion is that Agassi played well and Mats could do nothing to counter-attack -- agree, not his best match of the tournament. You should try to watch their other semi in New Heaven a few weeks after. Agassi won 6-3 6-3. At least we had a match with some nice rallies, even if you could see that Agassi was the better player, again.

We all played against a far better opponent at least once and with no solution but trying to grab a few games. I think that it is what happened to Mats that day in Montreal.