Match Stats/Report - Portas vs Ferrero, Hamburg final, 2001

Waspsting

Hall of Fame
Albert Portas beat Juan Carlos Ferrero 4-6, 6-2, 0-6, 7-6(5), 7-5 in the Hamburg final, 2001 on clay

Portas was a qualifier who beat among others seeds Magnus Norman, Sebastien Grosjean and Lleyton Hewitt en route to the final. This would be his only tour title. Ferrero had recently won Rome

Portas won 159 points, Ferrero 163

Serve Stats
Portas...
- 1st serve percentage (85/159) 53%
- 1st serve points won (54/85) 64%
- 2nd serve points won (37/74) 50%
- Aces 4
- Double Faults 5
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (24/159) 15%

Ferrero...
- 1st serve percentage (86/163) 53%
- 1st serve points won (56/86) 65%
- 2nd serve points won (39/77) 51%
- Aces 7
- Double Faults 8
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (30/163) 18%

Serve Patterns
Portas served...
- to FH 26%
- to BH 67%
- to Body 7%

Ferrero served...
- to FH 20%
- to BH 80%

Return Stats
Portas made...
- 125 (30 FH, 95 BH), including 7 runaround FHs & 2 drop-returns
- 3 Winners (3 BH), including 1 drop-return
- 23 Errors, comprising...
- 12 Unforced (1 FH, 11 BH)
- 11 Forced (3 FH, 8 BH)
- Return Rate (125/155) 81%

Ferrero made...
- 130 (44 FH, 86 BH), including 9 runaround FHs
- 3 Winners (2 FH, 1 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 20 Errors, comprising...
- 13 Unforced (6 FH, 7 BH), including 1 runaround FH
- 7 Forced (3 FH, 4 BH)
- Return Rate (130/154) 84%

Break Points
Portas 8/20 (11 games)
Ferrero 8/26 (11 games)

Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Portas 50 (19 FH, 19 BH, 1 FHV, 6 BHV, 2 OH)
Ferrero 38 (23 FH, 7 BH, 2 FHV, 2 BHV, 4 OH)

Portas' FHs - 4 cc, 2 cc/inside-in, 3 dtl (2 passes), 6 inside-out (1 pass), 1 inside-out/dtl, 1 inside-out/longline pass, 2 drop shots
- BHs - 4 cc, 8 dtl (2 returns, 2 passes), 1 dtl/inside-out pass, 1 inside-out, 4 drop shots (1 return), 1 running-down-drop-shot at net chord dribbler at net

- 3 BHVs were net-to-net and 2 OHs were on the bounce

Ferrero's FHs - 10 cc (2 returns - 1 runaround, 3 at net), 1 cc/down-the-middle, 1 cc/inside-in pass, 4 inside-out (1 at net), 4 inside-in, 3 drop shots
- BHs - 1 cc, 5 dtl, 1 inside-out return pass

Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Portas 90
- 58 Unforced (19 FH, 35 BH, 1 FHV, 1 BHV, 2 OH)... with 1 FH at net & 1 BH at net
- 32 Forced (20 FH, 11 BH, 1 OH)... with 1 FH at net (pass attempt), 1 BH running-down-drop-shot at net & the OH was a flagrantly forced, on the bounce from the baseline shot against an at net smash
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 48.4

Ferrero 77
- 52 Unforced (21 FH, 30 BH, 1 BHV)... with 1 FH at net, 1 FH running-down-drop-shot at net & 1 BH at net
- 25 Forced (9 FH, 16 BH)... with 1 FH running-down-drop-shot at net & 2 BH running-down-drop-shot at net
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 49.0

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

Net Points & Serve-Volley
Portas was...
- 25/35 (71%) at net, including...
- 1/4 (25%) serve-volleying, all 1st serves
---
- 1/1 forced back

Ferrero was 27/47 (57%) at net, with...
- 0/3 forced back

Match Report
Topsy turvy affair, with each player having better of things to varying degrees at different times. By the end, its anyone’s match. Portas, who has been the more composed in the final stages, takes it. The tennis is hard hitting and good overall, with substantial variance

Its amazing that a match that’s so up and down and round and round can be all but statistically identical at the end

First serve in - both 53%
First serve won - Portas 64%, Ferrero 65%
Second serve won - Portas 50%, Ferrero 51%

Both breaking 8 times, both having break points in 11 games
Both winning same number of points as they serve - Portas 159, Fer 163

There’s no key difference that determines the result. Action is hard hitting baseline stuff, dual winged biased to BH play. By both players, so they compete for hitting advantage, with honours close to even. Portas probably edging the BH hitting, particularly near the end, but in early part of match, its Fer whose more impressive (not necessarily due to power). Both players willing to go dtl with point finisher, both succeeding to about same degree. They’re evenly matched off the FH too

Both players serve heartily and return the same

Both players seem to lose heart at different stages. After getting bagelled in third set, Portas looks ready to throw in the towel. Fer doesn’t look much better at the start of the fifth, having spit up a spate of double faults to lose the fourth

In fourth set tiebreak, a would be Fer FH cc winner is called out. Ball was on the line. All things remaining the same, the tiebreak Portas wins 7-5 reverts to 6-6 and up in the air. Fer just gets on with the game after the call. Both players make less fuss about close calls than just about any match I’ve seen, only very rarely asking about a mark

What are the differences between the two players?

Fer moves better - he’s exceptional, Portas not bad generally, with rare lapses
Fer has better shot tolerance
Fer returns better, both in movement and shot tolerance, with Portas stumbling some against hefty serves. He sends down serves of same kind, but Fer’s invariably in perfect position and upto handling pace of the ball

And drop shots
Portas is a drop shot specialist who had apparently flummoxed all his opponents with it en route to the final. Fer is somewhat on the look out for it early on, but not many to be seen. In due time, Portas indulges with the drop shots

He finishes 18-14 (including 1-1 with the return) when he goes for drop shots. And he doesn’t play them well, but Fer handles them even worse. Discredit to Fer there - who messes up a good number of comfy situations when handling drop shots

Strange as it seems for such a long match, that’s about it. Contest is long but action is meat & potatoes, with only standard of it fluctuating, which it does for both players and by substantial amounts. Final outcome is coin-flip, with Portas playing with greater composure in final stages

Serve & Return
Serves are both hefty, returns are both hearty - with Ferrero showing better movement and shot tolerance on the return

First serve percentage is almost perfect predictor of who wins sets

Set 1 - Fer wins, leads in count 62% to 54%
Set 2 - Portas wins, leads in count 59% to 35%
Set 3 - Fer wins, leads in count 56% to 35%

Set 5 - Portas wins, leads in count 63% to 58%

Leaving Set 4, the coin flip 7-5 tiebreak in which a Fer winner is erroneously called out, sans which, ‘breaker would stand at 6-6 and ongoing. Stats for that set -

- first serve in - Portas 21/43, Fer 22/44
- first serve won - Portas 17/21, Fer 17/22
- second serve won - Portas 9/22, Fer 9/22

Basically, whoever gets more first serves in, wins QED

Fer leading first serve ace rate 8% to 5% and unreturned rate 18% to 15%, but also double faulting off second serves 10% to 7%

Portas hits his first ace in game 12, set 4. And his last 3 aces come in his last 3 service games of the match. In other words, he has no aces at all almost all match. Opposite pattern for Fer, whose aces mostly come early

Exact opposite for double faults. Early on, looks like Portas has a double faulting problem, but once he cleans up, doesn’t make any. Fer goes on a double faulting bender at end of fourth set

Return errors -
- UEs - Portas 12, Fer 13
- FEs - Portas 11, Fer 7

Discrepancy is about Fer’s superior movement and shot tolerance. Hefty + slightly wide serves have Portas rushed and out of position. Not so Fer, who moves into perfect position and isn’t noticably bothered by pace. The kinds of serves that are FEs for Portas aren’t for Fer because he’s in perfect position
 

Waspsting

Hall of Fame
Fer also getting more potentially point ending returns off, stuff blasted back to the baseline, but Portas is somewhat surprisingly very good at just flick half-volleying such balls back in play

Hefty serve is enough to give server sufficient advantage to follow up winning rallies most of the time (again, in near equal amount for both players)

Meat & potatoes - get more first serves in than opponent, win
And about 50% second serve points for both players reflect that court action is even too, but that varies more along different parts of match

Portas has run of winning 5 straight games (2 breaks) to take second set. Fer wins 9 straight to deliver bagel and open up 3-0 lead

Even fancy returning frequencies are even
Neither players is big on runaround FHs as both have powerful FHs, so when they do runaround, its an attacking shot, not just the way they do stock things

Portas has 7 runaround FHs and 2 drop returns, Fer 9 runaround returns
Both have 3 return winners - 1 of Portas’ a dropper, 1 of Fer’s a runaround FH

It really is amazing how everything works out to just even all around

Play - Baseline (& Net)
Hard hitting, dual winged play biased to BH. Crosscourt rallies, with change-up dtl attacks. Portas indulging drop shots. Ferrero a little triggered by it to hit a few back himself

And things are of course, even

Winners - Portas 50, Fer 38
Errors forced - Portas 25, Fer 32
(Points won aggressively - Portas 75, Fer 70)
UEs - Portas 58, Fer 52

Points won - Portas 127, Fer 122

Neutral UEs - Portas 24, Fer 20 (+1 defensive)

In line with Portas winning more points aggressively, Fer is more basically secure (all differences being small)

Baseline UEs by wing (excluding net shots) -
- FHs - Portas 18, Fer 19
- BHs - Portas 34, Fer 29

… supporting that BHs see more action. That’s not a given from the stats alone because FHs tend to have more winners, while higher proportion of BH rallies end with errors. That’s not necessarily the case here though

Ground winners
- Portas 19 FH, 19 BH
- Fer 23 FH, 7 BH

Looks like a big difference there
; Portas damaging off both wings, Fer only the FH (with slight compensation in being a little steadier on that side). Net advantage Portas?
Yes, but not as much as those figures suggest. Fer’s BH dtl win host of points by forcing errors. Portas has huge 20 FH FEs, many drawn by BH dtl

Clean BH dtl winners read Portas 4, Fer 5

Early on, its Fer whose scoring with BH dtl winning plays. As match wear on, he largely puts it away and stick to hard hit cc’s. Portas has more powerful BH cc. And tends to get better of them (in terms of outhitting Fer, not necessarily outlasting him)

BH cc winners - Portas 4, Fer 1. The rarest of of the basic shots to have winners on and Fer’s not an easy guy to get winners by. Extending on that, Portas’ more brutish BH cc force errors too (Fer has 16 BH FEs, to just 9 FHs)

When things get tight, its to his FH that Portas turns. Tends to stumble at such times, but those are rare enough that it’d be faulty to draw over-strong conclusions from. BH is a weapon, but as with most players, FH is a bigger and the more preferred one. That’s a very strong game from Portas - a ‘no safe place to go to’ problem for his opponent

Fer’s BH isn’t the safest place to go either - but having less power on the cc makes it safer than Portas’

And the drop shots, that Portas likes so much, about 70% of the time off his BH. Just the possibility of it keeps Fer on his toes, ready to move forward. Even without the actual hard numbers of points won and lost, that helps Portas, especially in BH rallies

The actual hard numbers are 17 won, 13 lost (plus 1-1 on the drop-return). Handy trick to mix into the power baseline contest

FHs are very evenly matched, statistically otherwise. Both players are varied with it -
cc winners - Portas 4, Fer 5
inside-out winners - Portas 5, Fer 3

The quicker Fer has 4 inside-ins too, while Portas doesn’t go in that direction. That difference fully accounts for Fer having 4 more winners. He has also has 2 more UEs

Portas does not drop shot well and Fer handles it even worse. Portas has 5 winners, draws 4 running-down-drop-shot errors (1 UE, 3 FEs), and Fer has a couple normal groundstroke errors at net. Meanwhile, Fer has 3 FH cc at net winners

Hitting groundstroke at net winners against drop shots only happens when the drop shot is a bad one. Not only does Portas send such droppers down, but his better ones aren’t great either. Even the 3 FEs are more makeable than not. On other points, Fer reaches ball quickly enough to hit a groundstroke at net, but hits a poor one and goes on to lose the point

With Portas’ power, its not hard to see how drop shot would be effective for him. Against Fer, less so because he’s not able to overpower to set it up. And Fer being so quick

Still, he goes for it and it works. Way he hits, there’s no reason pointed reason for him to go for them. He’s quite able to hang in tough, hard hitting rallies and he never seems to lose patience and try to bail with a drop shot. Rather, his drop shots come off as well calculated, if risky variation

Portas either stays on baseline after drop shot or comes to no-man’s land from where he can both move forward or back as needed. He’s got 3 net-to-net BHV winners springing out of his drop shots

Fer has 3 FH drop shot winners himself and forces 2 errors. Drop shots aren’t particularly his thing, and his use of it is probably a reaction to Portas doing so. Its potentially a better move for him than it is Portas, given Portas isn’t as quick. Portas’ only running-down-drop-shot winner is a net chord dribbler, but Fer tends to miss his attempted drop shots. Whether triggered into using a few drop shots, not a bad idea for Fer. Footspeed is one advantage this is one way to use it

Rallying to net points - Portas 24/31 or 77%, Fer 27/47 or 57%

Finally, an area where there’s significant difference between the two players. Much of it has to do with drop shots and not approaching to volley in classic sense
With both players coming in from commanding position after overpowering the other, expectation would be for high lot of net points won

Fits for Portas, despite 4 volley/OH UEs (Fer has 1). He doesn’t look a good net player. FHV is awkward and he’s one of the gentlest smashers I’ve seen, despite being tall. Good form on BHV though, where has 6/7 volleying winners. His success rate is bolstered by putting away Fer’s up-shots to drop shots. FHV is so clumsy looking that it’d be worth it for Fer to have pointedly played up-shots to it, and count on a routine/easy miss. Against not good drop shots, Fer has enough control much of the time to choose direction of such shots, but usually goes to BH side, where Portas looks good on volley

Just the 1 volley UE for Fer. He doesn’t look for net much and both his 16 extra approaches and 20% lower winning rate are down to all the drop shots he has to deal with. Which he doesn’t do well. Portas able to pass him some after drop-shotting him in

Portas with 19 attacking UEs to force 25 errors
Fer has 13 to force 32

Fer doing a lot better, in part due to his defence and speed being better

Portas with 15 winner attempt UEs to hit 50 winners
Fer has 18 to hit 38

Portas doing a lot better, cancelling out the FEs and attacking errors matter

Combo of those stats are suggesting Fer would have done better to attack more moderately. Which given Portas’ movements aren’t the best seems obvious. Does the savvy clay courter Fer err so? Getting the balance just so is tricky because Portas is at least a match for him on power grounds (in fact, probably shading things in that area). And to be clear, Portas’ ‘movements not being the best’ isn’t the same thing as he’s easy to force errors out of. Among other things, he to counter-attack as much as defends and is good at turning defence into offence (said offence being of the moderate type that forces errors, not hits winners). No discredit to Fer for his approach to attacking. Its something that’s come out in stats and unlikely to even be noticed amidst intensity of play. Seeing good attacks turned around is good way to get opponent to go for more and more when attacking - especially since getting on attack isn’t easy and opponents defending himself much of the time

Fer’s ratios look worse considering spate of winners getting him his bagel (which means for remaining 4 sets, his winners to winner attempt UE is considerably worse). He somewhat puts away BH dtl after a point, which was his chief error forcer, but he’s slightly getting outhit in BH cc rallies for most of match. Only slightly - you could say things are even - but it’d be easier to take on BH dtl for Portas than it is for Fer

Also has a little rattled phase when he plays with abandon, missing most attempts at winners

Gist - everything close to equal - FHs, BHs, power, consistency. Portas’ drop shots are biggest difference in how the two play. He’s a net success with it, more for Fer not handling it well than how good the drop shots are
 

Waspsting

Hall of Fame
Match Progression
Nice, hard set to start off with 5 breaks and 7 games with break points in them. Meaty serving and healthy returning from both players. Portas is apt to miss a regulation returns, where his movement isn’t good and he struggles against slightly wide ones. Hard hitting, mainly BH-BH rallies

Fer wins first 7 points of match to reach 1-0, 0-40. Just what you’d expect Rome champion and top clay courter to do against a qualifier. Portas serves his way out of trouble with 4 unreturned serves in a row (2 firsts, 2 seconds) before going on to hold with a pair of FH winners

And then breaks in an atrocious game from Fer with easy or routine third ball misses, including a net shot. Fer holds next time around to love with 4 unreturned serves - 3 of them second serves (1 of those marked an FE)

All 5 remaining games of the set feature break points. Fer breaks back to even at 3-3 in 12 point game that opens and closes with BH dtl winner - the latter one after a great rally filled with powerful hitting. In between, he knocks away a BH inside-out return pass winner and wins another point with a BH dtl. Portas goes to 0-3 on drop shots too, which means for rest of match, he’s 17-11 on the shot

After surviving 15-40 to hold (break points erased by strong serve and third ball FH inside-out winner), Fer breaks again. A game even worse than the one Fer gave up earlier - 2 double faults and the easiest of OH misses are involved, though Portas finds time for a comely third ball BH inside-out winner

And a superb game to follow from both players, 12 points long ad studded with great rallies and shots to finish those rallies, particularly from Portas. He still still needs a bit of help to win the game, with Fer missing a half-tracker BH dtl to raise second break point, on which, Portas biffs BH dtl winner of his own against a powerful FH inside-out

No matter, as Fer breaks again to end the set, starting and ending game with big, damaging returns, following up the last one with a FH cc winner

Similar quality action in second set. Hard hitting, tough rallies, some fine shots - with most of the last named coming from Portas. Fer’s BH stumbles a little and he misses a few winner attempts. That’d be his inability to kep up with Portas on the finishing, while rallying hard

Run of break point games continues as Fer saves one in holding 12 pointer to open second set, but things seem to have settled with routine holds as score advances to 2-2

Portas runs out the set from there winning 4 games on trot (5 including the routine hold prior to it). Poor volley from Fer leaves himself open to be passed and a lovely point later where Portas converts defence into offence, both players end up forced back from net, but Portas returns to win it are worth mentioning. Fer tanks last game as Portas serves out to 0

Onto third set. Fer at his best slapping winners all over the place. He’s got 9 (+ 2 aces) in the set, 3 UEs. Wraps up the set by breaking to 15 with 4 winners - 2 BH dtl’s from routine positions, a BHV that’s set in motion by a wide return and to finish, a swatted FH cc return

The abstract of mental toughness and storylines seem to enter the fray at this stage, and it remains to the end. To start the fourth set, Portas looks done. Frustrated and out of sorts in in play. He’s down 3-0 in quick time, with Fer still commanding action

For a statistician, fascinating point in game 4 that can either be marked Portas BH drop shot winner or Ferrero BH return UE. How is that possible?

Fer’s return lands close to line and Portas drop shots it for a winner. He seems to stop playing after hitting the shot and signal the return was out. And Fer, whose racing to reach the ball, possibly also stops his chase in response, as ball bounces twice for a winner. Portas circles the mark, and return was clearly out, but there was no call. With no call, goes down in book as Portas winner. Had he missed the the drop shot, he’d undoubtedly have protested the return and as ball was clearly out, with good officiating, point would have gone down as unreturned serve

No certainty about Portas and Fer’s reactions either. I’d say 75% chance Portas stopped playing and about 50% chance Fer did (he’d have struggled to reach ball had he continued full speed ahead anyway and possibly, just gave up on it). Said drop shot winner for first time puts Portas in the positives on the shot as he moves to 7-6 with it

Its 8-6 game after and few points after that, things are back on serve. Good series of FH inside-outs finally draw a pressured BH UE from Fer to raise break point and a great dtl return leads to Portas putting away an awkward looking BHV winner to seal it

Change of tide. Its Portas now who gets on top. Consolidates impressively, with powerful winning shots, including 2 BH cc winners, the last to end the game a particularly good one out ot routine position. Fer is not a happy bunny, and lashes a wild-ish FH out to start next game and couple, not-easy FH UEs (1 against looped deep return, the other that he has to move to), is down 0-40

Gets back to deuce aggressively, before Portas, now on a roll with the drop shots, lands a perfect one for a winner to raise a 4th break point. Portas’ attempts to find FH winner to end tough rallies fails and Fer holds

The 2 trade obscene breaks in moving from 5-5 to 6-6. Fer double faults 3 times to be broken to 30, leaving Portas serving for set. Bunch of quick errors and a bad drop shot lose Portas the game, in which the only point he wins is his long in coming first ace

Tiebreak. Portas makes 2/6 first servs in it, which is 2 more than Fer manages. Starting from game 11 and extending into fifth set, Fer has run of making just 1/13 first serves (with 4 double faults thrown in)

At 2-3 returning, Fer swipes a FH cc winner that’ s called out. Ball was on the line and point should be his. He just gets on with the game, and has been a bit hurried for last passage of play. Portas gains mini-break when Fer misses a BH dtl winner attempt to make it 5-4 with 2 serves to come

Careless swish of a return error from Fer raises set point, but Portas misses an easy, routine third ball BH to put things back on serve. Fer graciously double faults to end set in response

Deciding set. And now its Fer that looks out of sorts. He barely takes any time between points, and his shot choices are on edgy side. Bounces his racquet off the ground a couple of time and is on verge of smacking a ball in frustration post-point

Action is still hard hitting and games are quick holds as things move to 3-3, where things start getting very tense again
Great game from both players as Portas saves 3 break points to hold 12 point game. His second ace helps and on last point of game, Fer fails to dismiss a poor drop shot and gets passed

A very strong game from Portas- FH dtl winners (1 pass) and walloped BH cc get him to 0-40 and a good drop shot this time sees him break a point after. He can’t serve the match out though. Takes Fer to deuce after that (no break points)

Finally, Fer steps up to send the match into a final tiebreak. Perfect time for the longest game of the match, with Portas converting only his second break/match point of solid, even game to finally end things

Summing up, meat and potatoes, hard hitting match with the two players playing similarly. Both serve and return with hefty force. Court action features powerful, dual winged hitting with more BH play than FH. Both players hitting well cc, both taking on dtl point-ending shots when appropriate or taking a chance with it. Similar situation on FH, with natural, more varied directions

Two players are evenly matched in almost all areas - FH, BH, consistency, power. Ferrero is quicker and returns better in being less troubled by decent serves. Portas has slightly more powerful BH

Portas’ regular use of drop shots is almost only difference in the way the players play. He doesn’t play them particularly well, but Ferrero deals with them still less well. Portas, though slower and less defensively stout, is more capable of counter-attacking and turning defence into offence

Quality of tennis varies and both the ending and potential ending in previous set get very tense, with both players choking some, but as with most things, to same extent. At different times, both players look out of sorts before getting it it together again

Nothing in the result. A coin flip that lands Portas’ way. Given an erroneous line call in the fourth set tiebreak going his way in what ends up a 7-5 scoreline, a coin flip that’s still in the air and that’s called for Portas at that stage even

For what its worth, Portas is more composed at the finish line with Ferrero never fully shaking off getting rattled considerably a set and a bit ago
 

Galvermegs

Professional
It is a shame portas didnt win other titles and was kind of a perrenial journeyman.. but l notice quite a high number of one time masters winners, more so than slam winners.
 
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