Match Stats/Report - Rios vs Moya, Hamburg semi-final, 1999

[Waspsting]

Marcelo Rios beat Carlos Moya 6-4, 7-6(4) in the Hamburg semi-final, 1999 on clay

Rios would go onto win the title, beating Mariano Zabaleta in the final and becoming the first player to win all 3 Masters titles on clay. Moya was the reigning French Open champion

Rios won 81 points, Moya 69

Serve Stats
Rios...
- 1st serve percentage (52/69) 75%
- 1st serve points won (33/52) 63%
- 2nd serve points won (10/17) 59%
- Aces 3
- Double Faults 1
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (12/69) 17%

Moya...
- 1st serve percentage (40/81) 49%
- 1st serve points won (18/40) 45%
- 2nd serve points won (25/41) 61%
- Double Faults 3
- Unreturned Serve Percentage (11/81) 14%

Serve Patterns
Rios served...
- to FH 31%
- to BH 68%
- to Body 1%

Moya served...
- to FH 31%
- to BH 67%
- to Body 3%

Return Stats
Rios made...
- 67 (29 FH, 38 BH), including 8 runaround FHs
- 1 Winner (1 BH)
- 11 Errors, comprising...
- 8 Unforced (3 FH, 5 BH)
- 3 Forced (1 FH, 2 BH)
- Return Rate (67/78) 86%

Moya made...
- 56 (22 FH, 34 BH), including 8 runaround FHs
- 1 Winner (1 BH)
- 9 Errors, comprising...
- 8 Unforced (7 FH, 1 BH)
- 1 Forced (1 BH)
- Return Rate (56/68) 82%

Break Points
Rios 4/8 (6 games)
Moya 3/6 (4 games)

Winners (including returns, excluding serves)
Rios 13 (4 FH, 4 BH, 2 FHV, 2 BHV, 1 OH)
Moya 14 (7 FH, 1 BH, 1 FHV, 1 FH1/2V, 3 BHV, 1 OH)

Rios' FHs - 1 cc pass, 1 inside-out, 1 inside-in/cc, 1 drop shot at net
- BHs - 1 cc, 1 inside-in return, 1 longline at net, 1 drop shot

Moya's FHs - 2 cc, 2 dtl (1 pass), 2 inside-out, 1 drop shot
- BH return - 1 cc

- the FHV was a swinging cc/inside-in

Errors (excluding serves and returns)
Rios 43
- 25 Unforced (10 FH, 14 BH, 1 FHV)... with 1 FH running-down-drop-shot at net
- 18 Forced (9 FH, 9 BH)... with 2 FH running-down-drop-shot at net
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 52

Moya 53
- 31 Unforced (17 FH, 11 BH, 3 FHV)
- 22 Forced (11 FH, 9 BH, 1 FHV, 1 BHV)
- Unforced Error Forcefulness Index 45.8

(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
Rios was...
- 17/25 (68%) at net, including...
- 1/1 serve-volleying, a 1st serve
---
- 0/2 forced back

Moya was...
- 15/22 (68%) at net, with...
- 1/1 forced back

Match Report
Quick, fun, lively, all court match with Rios leading action and having more better of things than the tight scoreline might suggest

Rios winning 54% of points while serving 46% best indicator of how considerably he has better of things. It’s not a uniform match, with both players going ‘off’ for a bit. Rios is up a break for most of second set, and Moya seems to have almost given up, playing with just short of Devil-may-care casualness. But he breaks as Rios serves for match, and then its Rios who goes off on the return and also becomes casually careless

For Rios to go off in such a way is in line with his natural temperament, Moya less so. He’s somewhat frustrated by Rios’ magic keeping him from directing action, which seems to lead to it, so some credit to Rios for mentally breaking him down

What is this ‘magic’ of Rios? Usual stuff from him (when he plays well) - sharp cc angles, dtl shots, moving opponent around, going in all directions off both wings not necessarily in line with ball he’s faced with. Drop shots and net play aren’t necessarily part of Rios’ usual package of magic, but those are well represented here too

That’s not how he starts the match. First few games, he plays orthodox, trying to break down Moya’s BH stuff. FHs go cc, BHs go longline. Doesn’t win a big lot of points this way, but he has got Moya looking uncomfy and giving up weak BH shots sooner or later (which Rios doesn’t attack to open court, instead hitting another ball back to the BH). Looks good to be winning from

On a dime and for no tangible reason, Rios switches up the magic stuff. Unable to get his FH into aggresssive play, Moya utilizes drop shots more than his habit to be aggressive. Both players are at net often - more often voluntarily than forced - and that’s’ prime line of attack for both. From the back, Rios is the one directing action with that lovely, make-it-up-as-go-along way of his. Its not all wide shots and dtls. He might hit a few orthodox cc shots, but sooner rather than later, Rios starts opening the court and making Moya run. No difference in the balls he plays orthodoxly and the ones he goes wide or dtl on

Moya on the run defends and counter-punches, not counter-attacks. Rios remains in charge. But taking net remains his finisher of choice. He doesn’t look for winners from the back often, and isn’t too successful when he does

3 strange sets of stats coming out the match

1) Moya winning 61% second serve points, but just 45% firsts. And there’s no ready explanation for it. Rios doesn’t miss aggressive second returns, Moya has 3 double faults (also 0 aces). Similar kinds of rallies coming out of both types of points

Healthy first serve from Moya and a normal second and things flowing organically from there - Rios’ return against first serves leaving Moya with at least some initiative, while second returns tend to be neutral

Yet Moya wins 61% seconds, 45% firsts. Its not for overaggression - his UEFI is on low side at 45.8

No explanation, just one of those things. Is it a pattern with Moya? He had similar figures in ‘03 Miami match against Andre Agassi. He certainly isn’t a weak first server or a strong second. Blessing in disguise for him to only serve at 49% (Rios has 75%)

I imagine odd stats like this are more common in Rios’ matches than most players

2) Very high proportion of FEs to UEs.
UEs - Rios 25, Moya 31
FEs - Rios 18, Moya 22

Couple of reasons for this. All the net play (2 combine for 47 approaches in 150 points including aces, double faults unreturned serves with no scope for an approach) and related, the lively, fluid baseline dynamic. Related, and getting to heart of Rios’ showing is...

 

[Waspsting]

3) Rios’ very high UEFI
He scores 52, with just 16% of his UEs being neutral shots. Moya by contrast has 65% - which a normal figure for typical clay match

Breakdown of UEs
- Neutral - Rios 4, Moya 20
- Attacking - Rios 12, Moya 4
- Winner Attempts - Rios 9, Moya 7

That small a lot of neutral UEs would usually be a sign that Rios is in all out attacking mode, barely playing a normal, rally shot. That’s not true. His shot choices are edgy, but he rallies along normally at start of most rallies before dialing it up. Just a very, very secure day for him on stock shots

Moya’s high lot of UEs is confounded a bit by good lot being relatively hard for UEs - on the move, a little stretched out and so on. Product of how Rios plays

With a 4-20 difference, you’d think 1 guy just can’t miss a ball, so the other has to (or 1 guy unable to keep ball in play for any length of time). Not quite what happens

Situations reversed on attacking errors (Rios has 18 FEs, Moya 22 - about half forced from net, the other baseline points). Moya doing very well when attacking. He doesn’t get to attack much, so crucial for him to succeed when he does. Despite so often having to hit FH from unstable positions, the shot still has match high 7 winners (but also UEs of 17). Rios’ BH (14 UEs) gets better of it in rallies, with the wide cc starting up all kinds of trouble for Moya. It completes the treble of match highs with 11 FEs as well

This is part of the ‘magic’ of Rios play. He hits bona fida, attacking wide shots and he hits just-out of reach, skirting line between forceful and unforceful wide shots too. Or just a stock cc shot. He might play any of them to any given ball, in either direction

Poor winner hitting rate by Rios in particular. Its not too important and part of his off ebbs. He leads with net play and only occasionally looks for the winner from the back, making most of those errors when up a break in the second set. Ditto Moya, when he’s playing with close to abandon in middle of second set

Carelessly, Moya foot faults 4-5 times, including once giving away a double fault that way. Rios’ movement, like much of his game, is a mixed bag. At times, he’s slack, lazy to move (some of his FEs are due to this), at others, he’s a jack rabbit to the ball. Particularly quick to get onto Moya’s drop shots

Match Progression
Starting at 2-2, 3 breaks in a row to leave Moya up 3-2

To start, Moya gets better of an at net Rios a couple times (forcing him back and then moving forward to hit drop shot winner and stunning, running FH dtl pass winner) to get into game 3, which ends with Rios missing a couple attacking BHs. Rios breaks back in a 10 point game featuring net play, and open court baseline rallies. Rios missing attacking groundies results in the third break

Moya consolidates for 4-2 and doesn’t win another game in the set. Some fine shots and combinations of shots from Rios for rest of set, and he levels at 4-4 with a low BHV drop winner. The final break ends the set and is a terrible game from Moya, who double faults and misses easy FHV and different kinds of FHs

Rios takes greater control of action in second set, and while Moya holds upto 2-3, he’s doing a lot more running and its beginning to get to him. He’s broken to go down 2-4, with Rios forcing a couple of wide ground errors and striking a FH cc pass winner

Its after that Moya starts playing cavalierly, somewhat hit and miss, not moving into position all the time

Serving for the match, Rios advances to 40-15 when Moya strings together 3 strong points (drop BHV winner, deep FH FE and BH FE drawn by BH dtl) and Rios misses a wide BH cc to put match back on serve

Both players face break points in their next service games. Moya survives with Rios missing a FH inside-out winner attempt that was there for the shot. Rios faces 2 game after, with Moya missing regulation return the first time and Rios taking net to win the next before going on to hold

Some wonderful shots and points in the final regular game of the set. Exquisite Moya touch drop shot leading to BHV net-to-net winner, Rios nailing a BH inside-in return winner very early and Moya finishing game with a counter-attacking FH cc winner. And its on to the tiebreak

Pair of missed winner attempts and an easy return puts Moya up 3-0. He only wins 1 more, none of them service ones. Things are back on serve with Rios up 5-4, with 2 return points to follow. Wide BH cc wins him next point and he’s onto Moya’s drop shot in a flash point after to put it away BH longline at net

Curiously, the two players win 3/3 second serve points but 2/8 first serve ones in the game, with Moya losing all 4 of his first serve points

Summing up, a fun match with Rios’ creative, all court attacking play at center of things, with some streakiness embedded within it. Unable to dictate and forced to do most of the running seems to frustrate Moya, but even when driven to cavalier, almost reckless play, he doesn’t fall too far behind and keeps an attacking hat in the ring with drop shots and net approaches

Pretty clear who has better of things and its no surprise result falls Rios’ way

@Drob

Stats for the final between Rios and Mariano Zabaleta - Match Stats/Report - Rios vs Zabaleta, Hamburg final, 1999 | Talk Tennis (tennis-warehouse.com)

 

[Drob]

What is this ‘magic’ or Rios? Usual stuff from him (when he plays well) - sharp cc angles, dtl shots, moving opponent around, going in all directions off both wings not necessarily in line with ball he’s faced with.

From the back, Rios is the one directing action with that lovely, make-it-up-as-go-along way of his. Its not all wide shots and dtls. He might hit a few orthodox cc shots, but sooner rather than later, Rios starts opening the court and making Moya run. No difference in the balls he plays orthodoxly and the ones he goes wide or dtl on

He hits bona fida, attacking wide shots and he hits just-out of reach, skirting line between forceful and unforceful wide shots too. Or just a stock cc shot. He might play any of them to any given ball, in either direction

Nicely put.

Nice win for Rios. In his career, Rios did not have a particularly good record vs. players in top-10 at the time of the match, only 22-39. Also, a rather low proportion of matches v. top-10 players.

However, in his few effective years, between 1996-99, when he went 261-86 overall, he was 15-11 vs. top-10 players.