Match Stats/Report - Pernfors vs Martin, Canada final, 1993

[Waspsting]

Mikael Pernfors beat Todd Martin 2-6, 6-2, 7-5 in the Canada final, 1993 on hard court in Montreal

It would be the sole Masters finals for both players. Pernfors was unseeded, Martin defeated Boris Becker and Andre Agassi among others en route to the final

Pernfors won 97 points, Martin 91

Martin serve-volleyed off almost all first serves

(Note: I’m missing serve direction and corresponding return data for 1 point
Set 3, Game 6, Point 6)

Serve Stats
Pernfors...
- 1st serve percentage (63/98) 64%
- 1st serve points won (42/63) 67%
- 2nd serve points won (17/35) 49%
- Aces 2
- Double Faults 1
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (25/98) 26%

Martin...
- 1st serve percentage (58/90) 64%
- 1st serve points won (38/58) 66%
- 2nd serve points won (14/32) 44%
- Aces 10, Service Winners 1
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (26/90) 29%

Serve Patterns
Pernfors served...
- to FH 42%
- to BH 53%
- to Body 5%

Martin served...
- to FH 31%
- to BH 69%

Return Stats
Pernfors made...
- 64 (18 FH, 46 BH), including 2 return-approaches
- 3 Winners (1 FH, 2 BH)
- 15 Errors, comprising...
- 2 Unforced (2 BH)
- 13 Forced (2 FH, 11 BH)
- Return Rate (64/90) 71%

Martin made...
- 72 (34 FH, 37 BH, 1 ??), including 2 runaround FHs & 12 return-approaches
- 4 Winners (3 FH, 1 BH)
- 23 Errors, comprising...
- 14 Unforced (3 FH, 11 BH), including 1 return-approach attempt
- 9 Forced (5 FH, 4 BH)
- Return Rate (72/97) 74%

Break Points
Pernfors 5/8 (5 games)
Martin 4/11 (6 games)

Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Pernfors 29 (13 FH, 8 BH, 4 FHV, 3 BHV, 1 OH)
Martin 27 (11 FH, 3 BH, 3 FHV, 3 BHV, 7 OH)

Pernfors had 17 passes - 1 return (1 BH) & 16 regular (10 FH, 5 BH, 1 BHV)
- BH return -1 dtl
- regular FHs - 4 dtl, 1 dtl/inside-out, 4 lobs, 1 running-down-drop-shot cc at net
- regular BHs - 3 dtl, 1 inside-out, 1 lob
- the BHV was hit from just behind service line but has been marked a net point

- regular (non-pass) FHs - 2 dtl (1 return), 1 inside-out
- regular BHs - 1 dtl return, 1 drop shot

- 2 from serve-volley points (2 FHV), both second volleys

- 1 from a return-approach point, an OH

Martin had 8 from serve-volley points -
- 7 first 'volleys' (1 FHV, 1 BHV, 2 OH, 3 FH at net)... 1 OH was on the bounce
- 1 second volley (1 BHV)

- 1 from a return-approach point, a FHV

- 1 other OH was on the bounce from behind service line (a retreated net point) and 1 OH can reasonably be called a FHV

- FHs - 2 cc (1 return), 2 inside-out, 3 inside-in (2 returns), 1 running-down-drop-shot inside-out pass at net
- BHs - 2 dtl (1 pass), 1 inside-out return

Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Pernfors 37
- 11 Unforced (8 FH, 2 BH, 1 FHV)
- 26 Forced (15 FH, 11 BH)... with 1 BH running-down-drop-shot at net
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 44.5

Martin 43
- 31 Unforced (12 FH, 15 BH, 3 BHV, 7 OH)... with 2 FH at net
- 12 Forced (2 FH, 3 BH, 2 FHV, 2 FH1/2V, 1 BHV, 1 BH1/2V, 1 Over-the-Shoulder)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 48.4

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

Net Points & Serve-Volley
Pernfors was...
- 17/22 (77%) at net, including...
- 5/6 (83%) serve-volleying, all 1st serves
---
- 1/2 return-approaching
- 1/2 forced back

Martin was...
- 48/82 (59%) at net, including...
- 23/39 (59%) serve-volleying, all 1st serves
---
- 6/12 (50%) return-approaching
- 2/6 (33%) forced back/retreated

Match Report
Good, fun match with a bit of everything and a contrast of styles. Martin is aggressor either serve-volleying or looking to overpower and attack from the back, while Pernfors plays the reactive role just as ably - quick, consistent, solid and darn good at net himself when he chooses to move in. And it progresses beautifully - starting with Martin bulldozing, a turnaround and a tense finale. Martin’s up 5-2 in decider but doesn’t win another game, including failing to serve out the match. Court is slowish

With things that close, its expected that overall things are razor thin close. But how differently the two play is associated with expected patterns in how they win and lose points

Martin -
- serve-volleys off virtually all first serves and has a strong first serve. To be precise, he serve-volleys 83% of the time off first serves
- often returns aggressively, stepping in and looking for winning returns or take-charge ones
- in baseline rallies, looks to and is overpower and finish aggressively, both by hitting winning shots from back or coming to net

Pernfors -
- has an average first serve, cranking a few up as a surprise
- return-passes as to make Martin volley, with the returns dropping with top spin (as opposed to returning wide looking for winners or powerful and low to immediately force volley errors). Returns steadily when Martin’s on the baseline
- in baseline rallies, stays consistent, keeps his errors down, counter-puches and holds off Martin’s attempts to overpower. He doesn’t come to net much, but when he does, volleys as sweetly as any natural net player

How would each player expect to win?

For Martin -
- either a large lot of freebies and big advantage on unreturneds, or/and high success volleying behind the serve

In the event, unreturneds read Perns 26%, Martin 29% and Martin wins moderate 59% serve-volleying

Both Martin’s relatively low freebies and moderate serve-volleying success are relative wins for Perns and to his credit (as opposed to a discredit to Martin). Not easy returning that hefty serve to start with but he does it consistently, without leaving easy volleys and Martin volley vs Perns pass contest is a beauty, with both players playing well (more on that later)

Responsibility for Perns being so close in freebies is less clear; Easy to lay blame for result to Martin giving up a few too many return errors against an average serve, but he’s plenty aggressive returning on the second shot (has 4 return winners and 12 hard-hit return approaches, among other things) and that has large hand in his success; with it comes cost of a few attacking errors (as opposed to putting the ball in neutrally and starting rally from equal position). In absolute sense, 26% unretureds isn’t high either and returning damagingly is good value

So primarily credit to Pern’s returning for closeness of freebies. Returns powerful serve consistently but without leaving easy volleys. It leaves him work to do on the pass, which he ends up being upto too - but that’s getting ahead of pure matter of serve-return and freebies. Martin’s own returning choices and execution is just fine. Perns’ is quite cunning in slipping in sharper serves now and then too

- For Perns, being solid and not giving away cheap points from baseline
Perns’ BH with 2 UEs. Remaining more consistent neutrally is imperative for Perns - and this is how he does it
Other groundies have 15, 10 and 8 UEs respectively and neutral UEs read Perns 8, Martin 12
BH is Perns’ rock. And way he plays, not being rock-like would be a losing game of getting overpowered and pounded down

There’s a lot more going on, but these two aspects stand out; Perns keeping Martin’s freebies down without leaving him easy volleys to putaway and Perns back-court consistency advantage, which lies in an almost perfect BH

Serve & Return
First serve ace service winner rate Martin 19%, Pern 3%

A healthy rate for Martin on a slow court. Would think serve-volleying behind that calibre a serve would 83% of the point would be good to draw more errors than he draws (unreturned rate moderate 29%) or weak returns that he can putaway quickly

If the ace rate speaks to quality of Martin’s serve being good, than it also speaks to how consistent Pern has been on the return. Without leaving easy volleys to putaway

Perns’ own serve is better than his ace rate makes it look. Lots of routine, average paced serves, but he does slip in quicker ones and wider ones, which are more effect for surprise element
He’s drawn 14 return UEs, and 9 FEs to go with small 2 aces

Lot of aggressive returning from Martin. For starters, he has 4 winners (none of them passes) and his 12 return-approaches are powerful enough shots that he’d be in lead position if it were a baseline rally after it. Few UEs go with the territory of returning so aggressively. Perns’ has kept a cool head to double fault just once

Perns’ return-passing is reminiscent of Bjorn Borg (without standing so far back). Top spins the shot so that its dropping when volleyer reaches it. He’s regularly able to get them in just under the net. Not damagingly to feet, not even low enough to be forceful, but low enough to not be dispatchable. He rarely goes wide with the return-pass for a winner and still more rarely makes it (he has just 1 return-pass winner, though 2 other returns with Martin on baseline)

He doesn’t miss much with Martin on baseline for second serves

 

[Waspsting]

Play - Net & Baseline
Action can be divided into 2; Martin’s net game and everything else

While it’s the serve-volleying that takes Martin forward so often, its not the only thing. 39/82 of his net points are serve-volleys (all off first serves), 12 are return-approaches and the remaining 31 are from rallies, so almost as much rallying forward as serve-volleying

Slightly under net and dropping is typical volley he faces first up behind his serve, with not a small number troublingly lower, but short of down to feet. Not great power on the return

Call them tricky volleys. Martin places theses. Difficult to punch, so they have be angled and guided and he does so neatly, getting them wide. He seems to prefer 2-part volleying in general, and much of the time, 1-volley finishing isn’t feasible here

Lot of running passes and bad look passes for Perns to handle, stationary pass is rare, lined up one almost never. Good, effective volleying from Martin, angling tricky volleys aggressively wide

Martin on the ‘volley’ has 16 winners, 6 UEs, 6 FEs
Perns on the pass has 18 winners (including a volley from near the service line), 20 FEs
Perns winning this fine contest.

For Martin, UEs are in acceptable range, keeping FEs that low is good. The winners are decent given the looks he has and the passing chances he leaves are bad ones

Perns’ is better still though. Almost a winner for every error, with bad and not good looks on the pass - whether due to Martin’s serve, thumped return or coming in off strong shot in rally, or even Martin’s wide placed volleys

Perns has penchant for lob and is at his most spectacular on the run, from where he pulls out some amazing winners. He’s got 5 lob winners, Martin has 7 OH winners (he only has 6 genuine volley ones), 1 UE and is forced back/retreats from net 6 times

Baseline rallies feature Martin leading, Perns reacting

Perns with top-spinny shots, Martin flatter. Martin is more powerful off both sides, especially FH where he looks to just thump the ball to push Perns back. Perns’ shot tolerance isn’t great and he’s a touch slow in reacting to wider shots (specifically, his reaction time, not his movement which is quick)

Martin looking to take net after bullying Perns’ back

Action is dual winged, with Perns’ occasionally back-away to hit FH inside-outs. They’re not strong shots. Rally of Perns’ FH inside-out vs Martin BH cc is straight neutral, not even Perns leading, Martin reacting and forget about ‘attacking-defending’. Perns’ FH inside-out is liable to be dispatched BH dtl for winner and at least one is, with a few other attacked in this way

Amidst all that, Perns is stingy with the errors, Martin less so

In baseline rallies -
- Winners - Perns 5 (3 FH, 2 BH), Martin 9 (7 FH, 2 BH)
- Errors forced - Perns 2, Martin 6
- UEs - Perns 10, Martin 25

UEs by shot -
- Perns BH 2
- FHs - Perns 8, Martin 10 (excluding 2 net UEs)
- Martin BH 15

And UE breakdown -
Neutrals - Perns 8, Martin 12
Attack - Perns 1, Martin 12
Winner attempts - Perns 2, Martin 7
(with net UEs Perns 1, Martin 6)

Perns’ BH the key to basic action, as secure as can be. He never misses, so Martin ends up doing so
Gap in neutral UEs isn’t large but significant. Its not due to inability to play who-blinks-first that Martin attacks, but choice. With his ability to outhit Perns, its not a bad choice either. In long term, he would probably get worn down and grinded out by more secure Perns

As mentioned earlier, Perns’ success stems from super-secure BH. Its also not a powerful shot and can be beat back, but misses next to never

Martin with 15-7 advantage in aggressively ended points, and Perns with 2-13 advantage on aggressive errors. A classic battle - will attacker win more points attacking or lose them straining to? Martin stumbling quite a bit here. Its not due to Perns throttling him. Martin can gain command of rallies quite comfortably off either wing, especially FH. 15 aggressively won points, 13 lost through aggressive errors is not good from Martin - and one of the reasons he loses the match

Those numbers though are for pure baseline rallies alone. Both players’ main weapon is taking net
Rallying to net - Perns 11/14 or 79%, Martin 19/31 or 62%

So Martin doing better rallying forward than serve-volleying (won 59%) or return-approaching (50%). Worth noting since both his serve and return make for strong approaches. Testament to his ability to regularly overpower Perns in rallies. Fair few of his 3-4 of his 12 attacking UEs would be approach shots also, so realistically, a little worse than 62%

Perns is beautiful at net (he also wins 5/6 serve-volleying, along with 1/2 return-approaching). Not faced with difficult volleys, but his form is as sweet as any natural net player
Perns on volley has 7 winners (excluding a pass), 1 UE
Martin with 1 genuine pass winner (he has another running-down-drop-shot at net one), 3 FEs

He doesn’t come in much, but can find a way in on important times. Would be difficult to do it regularly, given how he’s outgunned from back and his serve doesn’t promise not taking a pounding were to serve-volley more often

In all, 77% net points won by Perns. A handy weapon to keep in reserve when feels he needs an edge

Match Progression
First set is close to mis-match level of thrashing. Martin returns first serves easily, pounds second serves as he follows them to net and is able to overpower Perns from the back to beat him down or come to net to finish. Meanwhile, his serve-volleying is good to comfily hold serve

Martin commandingly opens up a 5-0 lead. Grabs first break with strong return-approaches and otherwise hefty returns. Perns serve-volleys a couple times in his second service game, but gets passed once so doing and it’s a pounded FH inside-in return winner that seals second break

Perns finally gets on the board for 1-5 in a remarkable 8 point game of all winners
Martin has 2 FH inside-outs and an OH winner
Perns has FH dtl, BH inside-out pass, FH lob, second FHV serve-volleying and FH dtl pass

Chokey stumble by Martin to get broken after that from 40-15, 2 set points up. He misses a couple of third ball groundies and on break point, makes a terrible smash error

No matter. Another clubbing return game sees him break a third time to close out the set. Perns plays FH inside-outs in the game and they’re not too effective. Martin dispatches BH dtl winner against one to end the set

Perns holds for 1-1 in second set to love with couple aces (turns out to be the only ones he has all match), and then breaks to love in mixed game
Martin misses 2 FH winnner attempts (1 at net, 1 from baseline), before Perns strikes winners next 2 points (FH lob and BH dtl return). The lob is superb shot on the run, just poking the ball high over the imposing height of Martin

Perns adds another break for 5-2 and this one is a bad game from Martin with third ball ground UEs to begin and end game and missing a routine under-net BHV

Serve-out is the only tough game for Perns in the set and lasts 14 points and sees him down 2 break points, with Martin coming back to pounded return-approaches and seizing net. He misses routine return on first break point and a BH dtl winner attempt that’s there for the shot on the second, before Perns closes with nifty FH inside-in, that sets up a simply BHV winner

Decider and Martin looks more tired. He faces first test in game 3 that goes 10 points. Gorgeous, high BH lob winner by Perns to start the game and he adds an unusual, chopped BH drop shot winner later in the game and comes away with a brilliant point after sending Martin back to baseline with a running-down-drop-shot lob at net, but good serves see Martin through to hold

Some fine passes from both players next 2 games, before Martin breaks in a game with multiple spectacular points. And consolidates for 5-2

He doesn’t win another game. More for his own loosenss than Pernfors playing well
Reaches 15-0 serving for the match but gives up 3 ground UEs after that, with Perns artfully coming away with a BHV pass winner from near service line
Next break is another half-credit game - Martin missing routine third ball BH, a FH at net and routine BHV, Perns wrapping up 10 point game with passing winners from BH dtl and FH lob

Again, its not an easy serve-out and a net point and a winning BH dtl raise break point for Martin. End with a whimper though, Martin making 3 BH UEs (a return on break point)

Summing up, good, fun, all-court action match with near every skill set of tennis on show. There are lulls of quality at different stages from one or the other, but never both at same time and match has good portion of spectacular rallies and shots

Mikael Pernfors - weak serve, controlled return-passing to be consistent but not leave easy volleys, steady from the baseline, excellent on the pass against decisive volleying and when he chooses, very nice at net himself
Todd Martin - big serve, serve-volleying, powerful returns, ability to overpower from the back, but looser off the ground than opponent

Very nice contest between Martin’s angling volleys from slightly below net aggressively and with fine feel and Pernfors running down balls and striking some amazing passes on the run and/or from bad positions
Classic baseline contest - Pernfors the secure but undamaging one vs Martin the powerful but looser one
Momentum shift this way and that, but on whole, two players come out virtually equal, with Pernfors prevailing because someone has to