DALLAS, October 24 – Defending champion Wayne Ferreira defeated Karel Novacek 7-5, 6-2 in round-robin play Friday at the 2008 Stanford Championships setting up a Saturday clash with top rival Jim Courier for the right to advance to the event’s championship match. Courier defeated Justin Gimelstob 6-2, 4-6, 11-9 (Champions Tie-Breaker) Friday evening to join Ferreira with a perfect 2-0 round-robin record in the tournament’s Group A. The winner of Saturday afternoon’s match-up – a re-match of the 2007 Stanford Championships final – will advance to the Sunday final at the Turpin Tennis Center on the campus of Southern Methodist University. In other matches played Friday, Todd Martin recovered from his Wednesday loss to Aaron Krickstein to defeat Jimmy Arias 6-4, 6-2 to even his round-robin record at 1-1 in Group B. Thomas Enqvist increased his record to 2-0 in Group B with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Aaron Krickstein.
Ferreira and Courier have established one of the best rivalries on the Outback Champions Series since the global tennis circuit for champion tennis players was founded in 2005. Their match on Saturday will be their 12th Outback Champions Series meeting, with Courier leading the series 6-5. After Ferreira won the 2007 Stanford Championships final by a 2-6, 6-3, 11-9 (Champions Tie-Breaker) margin (played indoors at the Dr. Pepper StarCenter in Frisco), Courier won the next three meetings in 2008 in the Cayman Islands, Boston and Newport heading into Saturday’s match-up. During their ATP careers, Courier won nine of 11 career meetings.
“It’s always fun to play against him,” said Ferreira of Courier. “He’s a great competitor. He’s leading the tour, so it’s always nice to try to beat him. It’s a tough one. He’s playing pretty well. Last couple of weeks, in Charlotte, he played very well, but I do well against him. We have tough battles. I’ve won a few of them. It’s always close. I’m excited.”
Said Courier of his rivalry with Ferreira and their pending match, “I beat him in Caymans. I beat him in Boston and I beat him in Newport, so, I’ve got the better of him this year. But it’s not been easy. Our match in Caymans was a war. It was super hot, humid day. Both of us barely survived it. I just won the big points – the old cliché. He’s playing well here. He’s definitely stepped up his game here. I’m sure he’s ready for a little revenge, but I’m ready for a little Dallas revenge on him, too.”
The Courier-Ferreira match will also have reverberations on the Stanford Champions Rankings, used to determine the year-end champion on the Outback Champions Series and the winner of a year-end $100,000 bonus. Courier currently leads the rankings with 3000 points, while Ferreira stands in third place with 1750 points, 100 points behind second-place John McEnroe, who is not playing in Dallas this week. A win for Ferreira would cut into Courier’s lead and put him in contention for winning the year-end cash prize.
Against Gimelstob, Courier had to escape a 5-8 deficit in the Champions Tie-Breaker – the 10-point tie-breaker played in lieu of a third-set – to pull out the victory. Gimelstob, a last-minute replacement in the field when three-time Wimbledon champion Boris Becker withdrew from the event with a back injury, played spirited tennis, but not enough to overcome the two-time French and Australian Open champion.
“It was a tough start,” said Gimelstob, a former U.S. Davis Cup teammate of Courier. “I haven’t played much competitive tennis. It’s different just practicing and actually playing a match. It took me a little while. I got incrementally better between yesterday and today, but I had some chances there tonight. I fought back. I started serving a little better, but he (Courier) puts a lot of pressure on you. If you play some bad points, there’s not a lot of margin for you in the tiebreaker.”
After struggling to find his form in his loss to Krickstein on Wednesday night, Martin found his rhythm against Arias, especially on his serve that helped him register the straight-set win.
“I felt much better with my serve,” said Martin. “My toss was more consistent and that frees me up quite a bit. And also just getting used to the speed of the court, playing two days out of three is better than two days out of seven over three weeks.”
After his impressive win over Martin on Wednesday night, Krickstein ran into a buzz saw in Enqvist, who did little wrong in registering the 6-1, 6-1 victory.
“I had a bad start and served a bad game to begin with and got behind the eight ball right away,” said Krickstein. “He serves awful well, so he’s not a good player to be playing catch-up with. I got down two breaks. I had a few chances to get back into it, but he was playing awful well. I just never could get ahead to get any momentum. I was always clawing back, fighting back from behind. It was certainly was a struggle for me.”
Enqvist said he felt the match was much closer than the score indicated.
“I think we had a lot of good rallies, especially on the second set where I came out on the top of those and I broke him,” said Enqvist, the 1999 Australian Open runner-up to Yevgeny Kafelnikov. “Then you can relax and you can take a few chances. Aaron is a very dangerous player, very consistent. And if you don’t play well against him, he can easily turn the match around on you and beat you. So, it was big scores, but it was very good tennis, especially in the second set.”
Founded in 2005, the Outback Champions Series features some of the biggest names in tennis over the last 25 years, including Pete Sampras, John McEnroe, Courier and many others. To be eligible to compete on the Outback Champions Series, players must have reached at least a major 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.
The Outback Champions Series features eight events on its 2008 schedule, with each event featuring an eight-man round-robin match format. The winner of each four-player division meets in the title match while second place finishers in each division play in the third-place match. Each event features $150,000 in prize money with an undefeated winner taking home $54,000 as well as Champions Series ranking points that will determine the year-end Stanford Champions Rankings No. 1. Beginning in 2008, the year-end champion will receive a $100,000 bonus courtesy of Stanford Financial Group, the official rankings sponsor of the Outback Champions Series.
The 2008 Outback Champions Series kicked off March 12-16 in Naples, Fla., at The Oliver Group Champions Cup where Martin defeated McEnroe in the final. Courier won the second event of the season at The Residences at The Ritz Carlton Grand Cayman Legends Championships April 16-20, defeating Ferreira in the final, while McEnroe won his first career Outback Champions Series even in Boston April 30- May 4, defeating Krickstein in the final. Pat Cash won his first Outback Champions Series title in Newport, R.I., in August, defeating Courier in the final, while Courier won his second event of the season in September in Charlotte, defeating Martin in the final. The next three events on the 2008 Outback Champions Series calendar are Dallas, Surprise, Ariz., and Dubai, U.A.E. More information can be obtained by visiting www.ChampionsSeriesTennis.com.
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 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
The remaining schedule for The Stanford Championships is as follows;
Saturday, October 25
1:30pm
Aaron Krickstein vs. Jimmy Arias
Mixed doubles featuring Anna Kournikova
Jim Courier vs. Wayne Ferreira
6:30pm
Thomas Enqvist vs. Todd Martin
Mixed doubles featuring Anna Kournikova
Justin Gimelstob vs. Karel Novacek
Sunday, October 26
1:30 pm
3rd place match
Championship match
Round-Robin Results from Wednesday, October 22
Aaron Krickstein, United States, def. Todd Martin, United States, 7-6 (4), 6-4
Jim Courier, United States, def. Karel Novacek, Czech Republic, 6-3, 6-1
Round-Robin Results from Thursday, October 23
Thomas Enqvist, Sweden, def. Jimmy Arias, United States, 6-3, 6-2
Wayne Ferreira, South Africa, def. Justin Gimelstob, United States, 6-2, 7-6 (4)
Round-Robin Results From Friday, October 24
Wayne Ferreira, South Africa, def. Karel Novacek, Czech Republic, 7-5, 6-2
Todd Martin, United States, def. Jimmy Arias, United States, 6-4, 6-2
Thomas Enqvist, Sweden, def. Aaron Krickstein, United States, 6-1, 6-1
Jim Courier, United States, def. Justin Gimelstob, United States, 6-2, 4-6, 11-9 (Champions Tie-Breaker)
Round-Robin Group Standings
Group A
Jim Courier 2-0
Wayne Ferreira 2-0
Justin Gimelstob 0-2
Karel Novacek 0-2
Group B
Thomas Enqvist 2-0
Aaron Krickstein 1-1
Todd Martin 1-1
Jimmy Arias 0-2
