McEnroe and Krickstein Advance to Finals of the Champions Cup Boston

BOSTON, Mass., May 3 – John McEnroe will play Aaron Krickstein in Sunday’s final of the Champions Cup Boston – the third of eight events on the Outback Champions Series, the global tennis circuit for champion tennis players. Both McEnroe and Krickstein will be seeking their first career title on the four-year-old Outback Champion Series circuit at the Agganis Arena.
Krickstein advanced into the championship match with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Mikael Pernfors. Krickstein posted a 3-0 record in Group B of the tournament with wins over Pernfors, Wayne Ferreira and MaliVai Washington
McEnroe advanced into the championship match with round-robin match victories over both Jim Courier and Pete Sampras. McEnroe’s third and final round-robin match with Jimmy Arias scheduled for Saturday, was won by McEnroe in a walk-over – Arias unable to play due to a hamstring injury. McEnroe’s win over Sampras marked the first-ever loss for Sampras in four total Outback Champions Series tournament appearances. Sampras, however, was unable to continue play in the event following the loss to McEnroe, withdrawing from the event with a back injury before his final round-robin match with Jim Courier. Courier was awarded a walk-over win over Sampras on Saturday that advanced him into Sunday’s third-place match with Ferreira
Said Sampras, “I initially felt a twinge of pain in my opening match (Thursday night) versus Jimmy Arias and it worsened near the end of my match against John McEnroe (Friday night). I will be going for an MRI to get to the root of the problem and will begin rehabilitating the injury as soon as possible to ensure that I will be ready to play again in the near future. I look forward to coming back to Boston again next year to try to win the title.”
McEnroe said he felt confident going into Sunday’s final against Krickstein.
“This is the best I’ve played in a long time,” said McEnroe. “I haven’t won a tournament in a while. I feel like I have as good a chance as I’ve had in quite a while. If I play the way I’m capable of playing, I’m going to win.”
In Saturday night’s feature match, Krickstein used his big serve and forehand to overwhelm Pernfors throughout the match.
“I thought I played really well,” said Krickstein. “Mike is a tough competitor; he gets to a lot of balls. I felt like if I served well in the first set and got a jump on him, I’d be in good shape.”
Krickstein said that he was looking forward to the finals against McEnroe.
“John is a tough competitor,” said Krickstein. “I beat him a few times on the dirt, but never on hard court or indoors, so I’ve got my work cut out for me. He’s going to come in playing aggressive, so the keys for me are my first serve and returning well.”
Despite the loss, Pernfors was satisfied with his performance.
“I felt really good with how I was playing,” said Pernfors. “Every time I hit something good, he hit something better. I had to get closer to the line to get him out of position and I started missing.”
In the opening match of the day, Ferreira dominated the opening set against Washington before becoming unglued by Washington’s chip and charge strategy in the second set. In the Champions tie break, Ferreira effectively utilized heavy topspin forehands to take the match.
“I played pretty solid and didn’t miss as many balls as I did yesterday,” said Ferreira. “I was a little bit more consistent. Mal served so well in the second set, but he got a little bit tight on the first serve during the tiebreaker.”
Washington said that his tennis had improved with each match in the tournament.
“That was my third match of the year, my third match in four days,” said Washington. “My goal was to get a little better my second match and a little better in the third match. That was the way it progressed.”
Sunday’s order of play will kick off with the third place match between Courier and Ferreira, immediately followed by the championship match between McEnroe and Krickstein.
The Champions Cup Boston features $150,000 in prize money with an undefeated tournament winner taking home $54,000. Players also compete for Champions Series points that will determine the Stanford Champions Rankings year-end No. 1 and the winner of a $100,000 year-end bonus. All Champions Series events feature eight-man round-robin match formats with the winner of each four-player division meeting in the title match while second place finishers in each division meet in the third-place match. Tickets begin at just $15 and can be purchased by calling 617-931-2000 or at www.ChampionsSeriesTennis.com.
Founded in 2005, the Outback Champions Series features eight events where champion tennis players continue to exercise their competitive instincts in tournament formats. To be eligible to compete on the Outback Champions Series, players must have either; reached a Grand Slam singles final, been ranked in the top five in the world or played singles on a championship Davis Cup team. Each event also has the right to choose a “wild card” entrant.
InsideOut Sports & Entertainment is a New York City-based independent producer of proprietary events and promotions founded in 2004 by former world No. 1 and Hall of Fame tennis player Jim Courier and former SFX and Clear Channel executive Jon Venison. In 2005, InsideOut launched its signature property, the Outback Champions Series, a collection of tennis events featuring the greatest names in tennis over the age of 30. In addition, InsideOut produces many other successful events including one-night “Legendary Night” exhibitions as well as corporate outings, charity events and tennis fantasy camps, including the annual Ultimate Fantasy Camp. For more information, please log on to www.InsideOutSE.com or www.ChampionsSeriesTennis.com
RESULTS AND SCHEDULE FOR 2008 CHAMPIONS CUP BOSTON
Wednesday, April 30
Wayne Ferreira, South Africa, def. Mikael Pernfors, Sweden, 6-2, 6-2
Aaron Krickstein, United States, def. MaliVai Washington, United States, 6-2, 6-2
Thursday, May 1
Pete Sampras, United States, def. Jimmy Arias, United States, 4-5, ret.
John McEnroe, United States, def. Jim Courier, United States, 6-4, 6-4
Friday, May 2
Aaron Krickstein, United States, def. Wayne Ferreira, South Africa, 5-7, 7-5, 10-8 (Champions Tie Break)
Mikael Pernfors, Sweden, def. Malivai Washington, United States, 6-3, 6-1
Jim Courier, United States, def. Jimmy Arias, United States, walkover.
John McEnroe, United States, def. Pete Sampras, United States, 2-6, 7-5, 10-4 (Champions Tie Break)
Saturday, May 3
Wayne Ferreira, South Africa, def. MaliVai Washington, United States, 6-3, 3-6, 11-9 (Champions tie break)
John McEnroe, United States, def. Jimmy Arias, United States, walkover.
Aaron Krickstein, United States, def. Mikael Pernfors, Sweden, 6-2, 6-3.
Jim Courier, United States, def. Pete Sampras, United States, walkover.
Sunday, May 4
Beginning at 2:30 pm
Jim Courier vs. Wayne Ferreira
Followed by
John McEnroe vs. Aaron Krickstein