Match Stats/Report - Bruguera vs Sampras, Miami semi-final, 1997

[Waspsting]

Sergi Bruguera beat Pete Sampras 5-7, 7-6(2), 6-4 in the Miami semi-final, 1997 on hard court

Bruguera, who was seeded 30th, would go onto lose to Thomas Muster in the final in what would turn out to be his sole Masters final on hard court. Sampras had recently won the Australian Open and was ranked and seeded #1

Bruguera won 102 points, Sampras 95

Sampras serve-volleyed off most first serves and rarely off seconds

Serve Stats
Bruguera...
- 1st serve percentage (52/102) 51%
- 1st serve points won (35/52) 67%
- 2nd serve points won (32/50) 64%
- Aces 10
- Double Faults 3
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (29/102) 28%

Sampras...
- 1st serve percentage (56/95) 59%
- 1st serve points won (41/56) 73%
- 2nd serve points won (19/39) 49%
- Aces 8, Service Winners 2
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (32/95) 34%

Serve Patterns
Bruguera served...
- to FH 24%
- to BH 74%
- to Body 2%

Sampras served...
- to FH 45%
- to BH 54%
- to Body 1%

Return Stats
Bruguera made...
- 63 (26 FH, 37 BH), including 2 return-approaches
- 7 Winners (2 FH, 5 BH)
- 22 Errors, comprising...
- 4 Unforced (2 FH, 2 BH)
- 18 Forced (9 FH, 9 BH)
- Return Rate (63/95) 66%

Sampras made...
- 70 (20 FH, 50 BH), including 5 runaround FHs & 10 return-approaches
- 1 Winner (1 FH), a runaround FH
- 19 Errors, comprising...
- 10 Unforced (4 FH, 6 BH), including 1 runaround FH & 3 return-approach attempts
- 9 Forced (3 FH, 6 BH)
- Return Rate (70/99) 71%

Break Points
Bruguera 4/4
Sampras 4/7 (5 games)

Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Bruguera 27 (6 FH, 17 BH, 2 FHV, 1 BHV, 1 OH)
Sampras 25 (8 FH, 3 BH, 10 FHV, 2 BHV, 2 OH)

Bruguera had 17 passes - 4 returns (1 FH, 3 BH) & 13 regular (4 FH, 9 BH)
- FH return - 1 dtl
- BH returns - 1 cc, 1 inside-out and 1 inside-in
- regular FHs - 1 dtl at net, 1 inside-out, 1 longline/inside-out at net and 1 lob
- regular BHs - 4 cc and 5 dtl

- regular (non-pass) FH - 1 cc return
- regular BHs - 1 cc and 4 dtl (2 returns)

Sampras had 7 from serve-volley points
- 4 first volleys (3 FHV, 1 BHV)
- 3 second volleys (1 FHV, 2 OH)

- 1 from a return-approach point, a FHV

- FHs - 2 cc (1 pass), 1 inside-out and 5 inside-in (1 runaround return)
- BHs - 3 dtl (2 passes - 1 at net)

Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Bruguera 35
- 17 Unforced (3 FH, 13 BH, 1 FHV)
- 18 Forced (4 FH, 13 BH, 1 Over-Shoulder)... with 1 BH running-down-drop-shot at net
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 50.6

Sampras 46
- 29 Unforced (15 FH, 8 BH, 3 FHV, 3 BHV)... with 1 BH at net
- 17 Forced (5 FH, 7 BH, 5 BHV)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 50.7

(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
Bruguera was...
- 19/25 (76%) at net, including...
- 3/4 (75%) serve-volleying, all 1st serves
---
- 1/2 return-approaching
- 1/2 forced back

Sampras was...
- 45/75 (60%) at net, including...
- 30/45 (67%) serve-volleying, comprising...
- 26/37 (70%) off 1st serve and...
- 4/8 (50%) off 2nd serve
---
- 3/10 (30%) return-approaching
- 1/2 forced back/retreated

Match Report
Great match and an all-court one with all the various skillsets of the game on show - and all of them high quality. Bruguera's passing and net instincts stand out some even against that very high standard on a normal hard court

Match is decided by particularly good return games to break (as opposed to a point here, a point there). Its not a comfortable result, but it isn't quite a coin flip either

Points won and points served are perfectly alligned - Brug serves and wins 102 points, Pete 95.

Break points read -
Brug 4/4, Pete 4/7 (5 games)

For a Sampras match, Brug's perfect conversion rate is unusual. He plays top tennis on key points (break points and points in tiebreak)

Standout and key stats include -

- Brug winning 64% second serve points (Pete has 49%). Especially crucial for the winner since he only serves at 51% (Pete 59%). Related...
- Brug net figures of 19/25 at 76%. When he needs or wants to, he doesn't leave things to chances of a baseline rally

Pete serve-volleys most of the time - 80% off first serves and 21% seconds - so his service games are mainly test Brug's return-passing and passing. Its a great battle. Brug thumps returns low, Pete faces difficult powerful and at least low-ish (and often right to feet) balls to volley first up. Misses a few as is inevitable and can't make what he gets over with authority. Brug's follow-up passing to anything he can comfortably set up for is top class and always seems to make such shots for winners

When he can't get a good return off, Brug though leaves easy first volleys (better than missing the return - in context of regularly getting good ones off too). Fairly easy time for Pete in dispatching these

So an all-round great contest on Pete's serve - he gets his freebies with the serve and easy volleys. Meanwhile, Brug's meaty returns draw non-aggressive volleys and he passes superbly against those

On flip side, Brug serves big, dishes out a low-in count but much of his first serving is unreturnable (more so than Pete's in fact). That's with Pete playing with full focus all match and in all areas, there's no half-assed stuff going on in return games or on the return as sometimes tends to be with him. Throws in a few surprise serve-volleys of his own for good measure but baseline starting point rallies are center of action

And that's a great contest too. Pete is hard hitting off the BH, while (trying to) fire with the FH. His norm tends to be passive with BH - so this is a step up of intensity. And to an extent, he gets better of Brug BH-BH, but FH misfires more than fires - and Brug's a wall on that side

Hard hitting, intense play from both sides. What puts Brug over is his willingness to come to net to finish with authority when he wants. He doesn't have a big hitting advantage (if at all) or even a consistency one, so he has to be smart about picking the right ball. And he is - either using advantage accrued from the serve to take charge and come in, or coming in on the rallies he's gained advantage off the ground. Usually off his BH

Pete chip-charges second serve to considerable extent but Brug's if anything even better dispatching the pass here than after drawing not-strong volleys in Pete's service games

In short, whether its Pete serve-volleying vs Brug return-passing or baseline rallying, play is high end

Serve, Return & Serve-Volley
Brug mostly looks to serve big. One reason for the low 51% in-count, but also reason for high 10 aces. The bigger serving Pete has 8 and 2 service winners. Brug serves an unreturnable 19% of first serves, to Pete's 18%. If its unusual for Brug to top Pete in this area, it isn't because Pete's taking it easy on returns. He's zipping around in all areas - the return and in baseline rallies in particular. Generally, Pete sometimes makes less than full efforts in these areas, particular on return games and chooses to focus fully on holding serve. That's not true here - he's 'on' all the time - Brug's aces are perfect serves

Note also Pete with just 9 return FEs. Another indicator of his full effort on the return. The high 10 UEs are mostly a product of aggressive returning

Pete puts 1st returns back in play by ear - blocking them early or taking a swing when he can. He looks to attack 2nds. The 4 runaround FHs are point ending efforts (he hits a winner and on a break point, forces an error with them). And 10 return-approaches is high for him (+ 3 errors trying)

Pete only wins 3/10 chip-charging because Brug is top notch on any pass he can line up. Keeps swatting BH passes by Pete. Brug also throws in 4 surprise serve-volleys - winning 3 of them

Good, solid 2nd serve from Brug, not only not easy to attack, but he even forces a couple of errors with it (and has other forceful serves that are returned). Good job by Pete to hit the runaround returns, which he invariably blasts. The chip-charges are average - which against this 2nd serve, is good outcome and Pete's picky about which one's to go for. All credit to Brug on the pass after. Good lot of Brug's 2nd serves draws weak enough return that he can start rally commandingly

On flip side, Pete serve-volleys most of time, but stays back randomly off first serves and comes in behind occasional seconds. For Pete -

serve-volley frequency - 80% off first serves, 21% off 2nds
success serve-volleying - 70% off 1st serves, 50% off 2nds
success staying back - 44% off 1st serves, 43% off 2nds

Typical power serving from Pete, particular the 2nds, which is a weapon but still has 0 double faults. And great, balanced returning from Brug

For starters, keeping Pete down to 34% unreturned is postive outcome. Quality of the returns are well mixed. He leaves a good lot of simple, above net volleys that Pete swishes away wide, but also hits regular powerful returns slightly under net that draw average volleys that Brug can line up the pass for. Along with 4 return-pass winners

Nothing wrong with Pete's volleying behind the serve. Just 2 of his 6 volleying UEs are serve-volley points and he's very decisive against the routine stuff

So some great, counter serve-volleying returning from Brug - he makes Sampras putaway the volley (as opposed to giving up return error) much of the time, but hits everything from unplayable to testing & challengingly powerful returns in between. At 66% return rate

 

[Waspsting]

Questionable choice by Pete to stay back off 1st serves as much he does. There is a trigger point when he shifts from 100% serve-volleying off 1st serves to occasionally staying back, but its not a flurry of winners from Brug or poor volleying from Pete. Just facing pretty tough volleys quite regularly does the trick

Gist - Brug serving big, making low in count but making the ones he does count big time. Also throwing in surprisingly big second serves to thwart Pete's attempts at aggressive returning - and blasting passes like clockwork when needed off the third ball. The usual big serving from Pete, met by some excellent returning. 66% return rate from Brug while often giving Pete tough volleys + top notch follow-up passing is excellent

Play - Starting on Baseline
Another great tussle. Court is quick enough that both players can hit through it to damaging extent and play is hard hitting

The standout playing feature is Pete hitting hard off his BH. In general, he tended to poke and push and lop balls off that side. Not here. He's willing to trade power hits with Brug. And somewhat even gets better of him

BH UEs - Pete 7, Brug 13 (excluding a net shot by Pete)

Very good from Pete's point of view, especially in context of hard hitting play. He doesn't necessarily get better of the rallies. Brug also commands short balls and comes in behind them to finish at net and leads baseline-to-baseline winners 3-1 (excluding 2 Brug returns). Signficant portion of Brug's errors are also dtl winner attempts and his longline or dtl shots that come off give him charge of points that he goes onto win too. On whole, Brug has hitting advantage off the BH

Hard hitting play on the other side too, this time with Pete with hitting advantage, but Brug's able to handle the extra heat and is a wall

FH UEs - Brug 3, Pete 15
FH baseline-baseline winners - Pete 6 (excluding a return by both players)

dtl is only direction Pete doesn't have a winner but that's his approach shot of choice and its highly effective. On whole, he has a tough time at net against Bruguera's passing, but the FH dtl approaches are too strong for Brug to line-up

Brug's resistance to Pete's power leads to a few Pete going-for-too-much UEs

Coincidentally, UEFIs have come out as close as can be (Brug 50.6, Pete 50.7). That's rare enough, but usually happens when 2 players have exact same proportion of error types. Here though, its sufficiently different

Neutral UEs - Brug 7, Pete 8
Attacking UEs - Brug 2, Pete 11
Winner Attempt UEs - Brug 8, Pete 10

The neutrals being about equal is a big win for Pete. The winner attempt UEs is not good for either player - Brug's are almost all baseline shots but he only has 3 winners. He's doing much better attacking - usually by approaching. Pete's figures are a bit stranger. He's got 7 forecourt UEs, but most of those are attacking shots. Bulk of his winner-attempt misses are FHs from the back. He's also done plenty of damage with his FH so that side has done its job. The volleying UEs are mostly in return games so not too costly. The hard hitting, pressuring nature of play likely has hand in Brug going for dtl BH winners instead of trading power groundies - that's Pete reaping benefits of being consistent and hard hitting.

Net points from rallying to net read -

- Brug 15/19 at 79%, Pete 12/20 at 60%

... is what keeps Brug on top of his service games (that and passing the chip-charging Pete at will). He comes in of short balls drawn by the serve. Or he manufactures approaches after drawing short ball from rallies. Both ways, particularly on important points. Pete's pretty helpless on the pass, but far more credit to Brug's net instincts and volleying for how that plays out

On flip side, Pete needs a good approach shot to be confident of winning up at net. As with his serve-volleying and return-approaches, any pass Brug can set himself for tends to get nailed

Numbers for Pete at net (in all ways) vs Brug on the pass

- Pete's volleying winners 14, Brug's passes 17 (including 4 returns)
- Pete's 'volleying' UEs 7 (including a BH at net)
- Pete's volley FEs 5, Brug's ground FEs 17

Not all Brug's ground FEs are passes. About 10-12 of them would be, so roughly same number as Pete's total volleying errors, and Brug having more passing winners than Pete's volleying one. That is a very, very good outcome for Brug - and fair indicator of how well he returns and passes.

Pete has his 34% unreturned rate cushion serve-volleying, but he's given a lot of work to do on the volley and anything not-good (as opposed to 'bad') to get dispatched

Match Progression
There's something a bit amusing about the opening. Sampras chip-charges on the first point off the match and Bruguera passes him. After Brug holds, he chip-charges his first return point of the match and whips away a BHV winner. Sergi Bruguera showing Pete Sampras how its done at net (Brug ends up playing superbly at net all match)

The two trade early breaks - Pete gaining his aggressively and giving it back with missed aggresisve FHs after a Brug BH inside-out return pass winner to open game

Pete grabs the decisive break with more net points and on his third break point, smacks a runaround FH return that Brug can't handle. He falls to 0-30 serving fro the set after a perfect Brug FH lob winner, but wins next 4 points to close it out

Two trade breaks early in second set too. Great game of returns and passes by Brug to break first, and one where Pete gets better off him from the baseline to restore parity

Serving at 4-4, Brug faces break point after a double fault, a top class running BH dtl pass winner by Pete and a third ball BH dtl winner attempt miss. He overpowers Pete on it and comes in to finish with an OH winner

For no particular reason, Pete starts staying back off a few first serves around this point. He'd faced strong returns fairly regularly, but had still won wide bulk of his 1st serve-volley points. And he hadn't got undue better of baseline rallies either. Odd choice

Great tiebreak from Brug, who's at net 4/5 non-unreturned points in the game (and the one he isn't, he has no scope to be). Pete stays back off a first serve and Brug's quick to come in to win the pint for first mini-break. He's at net again next point on his own serve, but is forced back after Pete's pass flicks net chord. Still pulls of a BH dlt pass winner. Adds a BH cc one after drawing a weak volley to a low ball and finishes the set with an ace

And a top notch final set to wrap things up. Brug grabs the early break - couple of BH winners (dtl and return cc pass), couple of Pete missed FHs - and Brug's up 2-1. Every game after is a high quality tussle. The 2 trade deuce holds (no break points). Net play and a thunderous runaround FH inside-in winner set Pete up to break back after that to make things 3-3

Game after is game of the match - and there are a lot of good ones in there. From 30-15, Brug smacks 3 different kinds of passing winner - the first is needle threading after Pete makes a tough first 1/2volley, the second follows a power pass from an OH Pete doesn't putaway that sets up the winner and the third is a slapped BH dtl after Pete steers a regulation slightly under net first volley

Fairly comfortable holds remaining 3 games, though not without fireworks. Pete chip-charges once on both his remaining return games - and is passed BH cc both times. Brug smacks back to back return winners (1 pass, 1 not) down 40-0 in his only remaining return game. Match ends with Pete missing 2 aggressive returns

Summing up, a great match and great showing from both players, especially Bruguera. His powerful, under-net returns draws not-strong volleys and he's top notch on the follow up pass that he can line up off the BH. He passes the chip-charge returning Sampras almost every time too. Off the ground, he's hard hitting of the BH, a wall of the FH and willing and very able to come to net to finish, which he does at most crucial times in particular

A strong one from Sampras too - hard hitting BH play with attackingly powerful and adventurous FHs make up his ground game, which isn't far behind Bruguera's. He's faced with a tough job on the volley and doesn't cave, but is outdone when at net and his attacking return-approaches gets holes blown threw it

 

[I get cramps]

Thank you very much.

 

[Waspsting]

Thank you very much.

most welcome

Is this a match you were particularly interested in?

 

[I get cramps]

Yes, due to the quality of tennis that was seen in the Sampras-Bruguera matchup.

Bruguera was a player I only saw and see hitting very good slices when he didn't have time, slipping or sliding. He had the timing and the touch to pull those slices off. And yet, I don't remember seeing him use the slice when he was standing still.

In those backhand passings that followed a volley hit very low and that you describe, SB stood still and was able to wait before choosing the direction for a fraction of time longer than normal, at least to me it created that feeling. When faced with that fake generally players picked a side, especially on clay because once the volleyer stands still it is hard for him to start off to one side. Nihil sub sole novum, what I like is the virtuosity that Bruguera showed by waiting a little longer before throwing the passing shot.

On clay he could do something very similar beautifully with his forehand passings because he was sliding and playing with his supports* when deciding when to throw the passing shot while on hard he could not do this.

*I have no idea what this tennis term is called in English, so I hope it is understood.

 

[Waspsting]

In those backhand passings that followed a volley hit very low and that you describe, SB stood still and was able to wait before choosing the direction for a fraction of time longer than normal, at least to me it created that feeling.

I saw it the same way. Its even more evident when he passes the chip-charging Sampras. He waits just a bit before going either way - good stuff

Bruguera was a player I only saw and see hitting very good slices when he didn't have time, slipping or sliding. He had the timing and the touch to pull those slices off. And yet, I don't remember seeing him use the slice when he was standing still.

He's got a great orthodox BH, no real need to slice unless its defensively forced

Have you see his match with Boris Becker, '91 Monte Carlo final?

Couple of things with his BH stand out there -

a) Boris hits some beautiful, ground clinging slices. The kind that'd force most anyone to hit more gently or slice back. Brug doesn't... just thumps the ball like any other

b) lot of touch play involved to draw Becker forward. Boris does it more, but Brug's no slouch either

----

Like you, I really enjoyed this match. I hadn't seen it before and looking at the scoreline, the venue and knowing the final, was half-expecting a snail slow court and Sampras being messy

Nope. Courts normal - both guys are able to attack from the back - and Brug plays a great match. On top of the return-passing, his willingness and ability to take net to finish when he wants impressed me. Great showing