Match Stats/Report - Dimitrov vs Kyrgios, Cincinnati final, 2017

Waspsting

Hall of Fame
Grigor Dimitrov beat Nick Kyrgios 6-3, 7-5 in the Cincinnati final, 2017 on hard court

To date, it remains Dimitrov’s sole Masters title and he would go onto win the Year End Championship at the end of the season. To date, it is Kyrgios’ only Masters final

Dimitrov won 67 points, Kyrgios 52

Serve Stats
Dimitrov...
- 1st serve percentage (33/59) 56%
- 1st serve points won (28/33) 85%
- 2nd serve points won (18/26) 69%
- Aces 6
- Double Faults 5
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (19/59) 32%

Kyrgios...
- 1st serve percentage (42/60) 70%
- 1st serve points won (31/42) 74%
- 2nd serve points won (8/18) 44%
- Aces 16 (1 not clean, 3 second serves)
- Double Faults 4
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (28/60) 47%

Serve Pattern
Dimitrov served...
- to FH 39%
- to BH 61%

Kyrgios served...
- to FH 36%
- to BH 64%

Return Stats
Dimitrov made...
- 28 (9 FH, 19 BH)
- 1 Winner (1 FH)
- 12 Errors, comprising...
- 7 Unforced (3 FH, 4 BH)
- 5 Forced (3 FH, 2 BH)
- Return Rate (28/56) 50%

Kyrgios made...
- 35 (16 FH, 19 BH)
- 13 Errors, comprising...
- 9 Unforced (3 FH, 6 BH), including 1 return-approach attempt
- 4 Forced (1 FH, 3 BH)
- Return Rate (35/54) 65%

Break Points
Dimitrov 2/4 (3 games)
Kyrgios 0/2 (2 games)

Winners (including returns, excluding aces)
Dimitrov 13 (8 FH, 2 BH, 1 FHV, 1 BHV, 1 OH)
Kyrgios 5 (3 FH, 1 BH, 1 FHV)

Dimitrov's FHs - 1 cc pass, 3 dtl (2 passes - 1 return), 3 inside-out, 1 inside-in
- BHs - 1 cc pass, 1 drop shot

- the OH was on the bounce

Kyrgios' FHs - 2 inside-out (1 at net), 1 drop shot
- BH pass - 1 cc

Errors (excluding returns and serves)
Dimitrov 14
- 10 Unforced (5 FH, 5 BH)
- 4 Forced (1 FH, 3 BH)
Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 44

Kyrgios 31
- 29 Unforced (13 FH, 15 BH, 1 BHV)
- 2 Forced (2 FH)
Unforced Error Forcefulness Indexv 43.4

(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 are keyed on 4 categories - 20 defensive, 40 neutral, 50 attacking and 60 winner attempt)

Net Points & Serve-Volley
Dimitrov was 3/4 (75%) at net

Kyrgios was...
- 5/10 (50%) at net, including...
- 1/2 serve-volleying, both 1st serves

Match Report
Peculiarly effective serving but otherwise terrible showing from Kyrgios (not in that order) define a forgettable match and doesn’t leave fleet Dimitrov much room to shine. Court is normal

29 UEs from Kyrgios, nicely evenly across wings (13 FH, 15 BH, 1 volley) and 21 of them are neutral shots. Putting that in perspective -
- 2 players combined have 18 winners
- 2 players combined have 6 FEs
- Dimi has 10 UEs (also evenly distributed, 5 on each groundie)
- Dimi has 19 unreturned serves, Kyrg 28

5 winners, 29 UEs at UEFI of 43.4. Painfully poor stuff. Dimi has 13 and 10 to compare
With it, comes 47% unretured serves and 16 aces. Good to hold behind and he’s broken just twice while unable to keep ball in play for long off the ground

It’s a weird pot-pourri of serves from Kyrg. High 47% freebies is something like what one would expect to see a server of his calibre dish out 70% first serves in. Its not quite what what it looks. He mixes up his serve about thoroughly - normal or even weak first serves (or seconds for that matter - he’s got 3 aces, 4 doubles with those), big serves, moderate paced serves, slices, kickers, sliders. Big flat ones are just one of the varieties and uncommon, let alone staple

It works to get him 16 aces. Good lot of aces aren’t sure unretunable calibre serves. Dimi disarmed by all the variety to falter some returning?
7/12 Dimi return errors have been marked UEs, which in conjunction with being aced 16 times is weird combo. In no way due to Dimi bopping returns aggressively early (which tends to lead to damaging returns at low in rate, with high proportion of aces to errors drawn)

Good lot of routine and readily returnable serves from Kyrg, even the first. More than genuinely, untouchably good ones. 16 aces is either a little flattering to him, or he’s perfectly put demons in his opponents mind with randomness of his deliveries to score a good few with merely good serves. These would not be going for aces against someone like Andy Murray

Call it smartly done (or lucky). If you can get so many aces with relatively tame serves, with said tame serving allowing you to get 70% first serves in - fantastic

When Dimi can make the return or it’s a double fault, Kyrg wins just 11/32 service points. In no way due to Dimi returning with heat. If anything, Dimi’s returning is on passive side of run-of-the-mill blocking. The oohs and aahs he draws by firing a FH dtl return winner (with Kyrgo tokenly serve-volleying - he’s not even at service line when ball goes by him) is indicator of how rare a meaty return from Dimi is. Winning two-thirds points is down to how bad Kyrg is in court action

Nice mix of serves by Kyrg, but also a blackmark on Dimi’s returning. Both for allowing so many aces and missing good few routine returns. His return rate is 50%. 70% is doable against what he’s faced with and would say returner had done well for anything above that

Heavyweight server Nick Kyrgios, 70% first serves in, 16 aces (31% off first serves), including 3 second serves, 47% unreturned rate. Would think its simply a case of him serving superbly. There’s a lot more going on than that with it though. Whatever the take on it, its bloody effective

Also has 4 double faults or high 22% of second serves. Not bad, in light of 3 aces. Practically, the matter is different. 3 are in one game that’s as much a break donation as can be - and lose him second set (and with it, the match obviously). Just an off game. The crucial doubles are normal second serves, not attempted big and/or damaging ones
 

Waspsting

Hall of Fame
And Dimitrov? He serves ok and is also flattered by 32% unreturneds, with Kyrg returning not much better than he plays

6 aces, 5 doubles is a not a good yield and he flirts with breaking himself in first set doubles too
9/13 return errors he draws have been marked UEs. 4 of those UEs are drawn by first serves. Routine, in swing zone stuff that Kyrg misses. Kyrgo returning passively, just putting balls in play when he can. When he returns a powerful serve that’s called a let, he’s disappointed because “I don’t make a many returns” he explains to the Chair, in at least non-clownish way

Unlike Kyrg, Dimi wins 27/40 points when his serve is returned. That along with Kyrg’s poor 11/32 comes down to -

Winners - Dimi 13, Kyrg 5
Errors forced - Dimi 2, Kyrg 4
UEs - Dimi 10, Kyrg 29

… and UE breakdown -
Neutral - Dimi 6, Kyrg 21
Attacking - Dimi 4, Kyrg 6
Winner attempts - Kyrg 2

Rallies at least aren’t short. Not too many third ball UEs by Kyrg and those he makes tend to be product of mis-anticipating a weak return and getting into awkward position to ball he’s made ‘deep’ by standing couple paces inside court for third ball. Short or not, Kyrg’s 29 UEs is front and center of how things go, and its poor stuff

Dimi’s fleet movement stands out on the positives. Normal enough for him. Slices BHs most of the time with good control, keeping around middle of court. Not bitingly low ones, but good to trip Kyrg up some, which is discredit to Kyrg

A few good move-around rallies. Kyrg leads them without hitting hard, so moderate (or even mild) powered stuff, including with Dimi’s slices in there. This is where Dimi’s quickness is impressive

Staple not fully stationary rallies (that is, not 2 guys standing in one place trading groundies), so some movement involved. Its not move-opponent-about action either, but Dimi again, always in right place and perfectly balanced. Kyrg by contrast is sometimes lazy looking, particularly to getting down to make his shots, especially BHs

No winner attempt UEs for Dimi to go with nifty 13 winners

Little aggro from Kyrg. One way to escape a bad error day is to hit out but he keeps it in neutral. 21 neutral UEs - about 3 times as much as opponent - while only having 5 winners, 2 winner attempt UEs - speaks to that. ‘Bunting the ball around’ is fit description of how Kyrg plays

Of his small 5 winners, 1 is a putaway groundie at net, another is played very close to net and a third is a pass. When Kyrg slams a powerful FH inside-out and comes in to knock away an easy volley winner, it standing out so startlingly speaks to his generally passive game

Some good attacking FH play from Dimi. He’s got 3 inside-out winners, but it’s the inside-ins that are more eye-catching (1 winner, forces 2 errors). Some inside-in’s are turned back cc by Kyrg and Dimi is on point of the running FH. Again, the movement is impressive

Match Progression
BHV winner by Dimi to start the match and adds a FH inside-out in holding to love to open.
Kyrg has a second serve ace in his first hold

The chances for both players come in middle of set
Serving at 2-2, consecutive double faults see Dimi go down break point. Rally develops on the point with Kyrg in lead position. He has opening to take charge with a FH, but pulls back on the short and eventually gives up a mild FH dtl error. And misses 2 regulation first returns to finish the game

Dimi grabs the break game after. There’s a lovely, corner-to-corner rally that Dimi comes away with a FH dtl winner to end. End of game is more mundane, with Kyrg giving up a pair of FH UEs - the first against a slice, the second a third ball he plays awkwardly. 6/6 first serves in the game but still a break

Sneak approach by Kyrg and double fault and third ball FH inside-out miss by Dimi raises break point following game also. Tame BH UE by Kyrg on it and Dimi goes on to complete hold with third ball FH inside-out winner
Awhile later, Dimi serves out to love

Lot of aces from Kyrg in second set (11 of them), but Dimi holds even more easily. Despite high aces, Kyrg still sending down ordinary serves not infrequently and his BH is at its worst for giving up UEs

Mix of UEs (BHV, routine BH, FH approach) sets Kyrg down 30-40 in game 7. He delivers a slower ace to get to deuce. Uses the same serve to save next break point too, this time drawing a return error while serve-volleying (which he’d been trying to do the first time too). Serves gets him through to hold

Kyrg hands over the match on a platter at the end. 3 double fault faults, broken up by an ace and a winning FH dtl get him down 30-40. And he misses a routine, neutral third ball FH to get broken for 5-6 and leave Dimi to serve for match

Wonderful, full running FH dtl passing winner against a strong FH cc approach by Dimi highlights the serve-out, which ends with Kyrg missing a FH

Summing up, forgettable match and poor showing from Kyrgios who’s very generous with the ground errors all through, despite doing little more than bunting the ball around from back of the court. Poor in making returns too, but he does serve up a fascinating mix of deliveries that proves highly effective, as much for disarming opponent as the serves themselves being lethal

Dimitrov moves beautifully and never seems to to be out of position, while keeping the ball in play as needed and waiting for opponent to do the rest
Some nice, moderately fluid, medium length rallies where Dimitrov’s sleek movement comes through, but main part remains a soft, error riddled showing from the loser
 
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