In the latest thrilling installment of John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg’s rivalry, the American fought back from a one set deficit to triumph 5-7, 6-4, 10-7 (Champions Tie Break) and set up a final clash with Henri Leconte at the BlackRock Tour of Champions event in Luxembourg.
A full capacity crowd watched in awe as Borg recovered from an early break of serve to take the first set and send a large contingent of Swedish fans wild. At times the match had the feeling of a rock concert, with both men pumped up and taking every point seriously. Some of the points saw vintage rallies with both players performing beautifully; McEnroe attacking the net and Borg counter-attacking from the baseline.
When Borg broke for 2-0 in the second set, victory seemed in sight for the Swede, but McEnroe hit back immediately. At 3-all in the second set, McEnroe started to get irritated with line-calls and heckling fans. He kept it together though and broke to lead 4-3. Despite facing a couple of break-back points, McEnroe produced some big serves to hold for 5-3, and at 5-4 he won the game to love to take the match to a decider.
The American took an early mini-break in the Champions’ Tie-Break, Borg could not recover and McEnroe showed visible relief at the end of the match.
“It is just a game but its a game I want to win,” said McEnroe afterwards. “When you get out there you dont want to lose. I think people want to come and see you compete.”
Borg agreed.
“I wanted to win. I came pretty close but Im still pleased with the way I played. There were a lot of good points and it was a good match. It was good to have some Swedish support, I appreciate that,” he said.
McEnroe will now face Leconte in what promises to be a tasty encounter. The pair fell out on court in Liege last year.
“Itll be tough (against Henri) because hes playing well but Id really like to win one of these tournaments this year because its been a while since Ive won one,” said McEnroe.
Earlier, Leconte defeated home-favourite Johny Goudenbour 6-2, 7-5, and the Luxembourgian will now play Borg in his dream-match on Sunday.
Matches are played over the best of three sets, with a Champions Tie-break (first to 10 points with a clear advantage of two) to decide the winner.
Last week at the Jean-Luc Lagardere Trophy in Paris, Stefan Edberg won his debut event on the BlackRock Tour of Champions, beating Sergi Bruguera in the final.
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After Luxembourg the Tour will move on to Eindhoven for the AFAS Tennis Classics (October 2-5) and then to the Tennis Classics in Budapest. In Eindhoven, former World No.1 Yevgeny Kafelnikov, 1989 French Open champion Michael Chang, and the 1996 Wimbledon finalist Malivai Washington will make their BlackRock Tour of Champions debuts.
RESULTS – SATURDAY 27 SEPTEMBER
Henri Leconte d. Johny Goudenbour 6-2, 7-5
Cedric Pioline d. Carl-Uwe Steeb 6-2, 6-2
Mansour Bahrami d. Guillermo Vilas 6-1, 4-6, 10-8 (Champions Tie Break)
John McEnroe d. Bjorn Borg 5-7, 6-4, 10-7 (Champions Tie Break)
FINAL GROUP STANDINGS
GROUP A
Matches won/lost (sets)
Henri Leconte 3-0 (6-0)
Johnny Goudenbour 2-1 (4-2)
Cedric Pioline 1-2 (2-4)
Carl-Uwe Steeb 0-3 (0-6)
GROUP B
Matches won/lost (sets)
John McEnroe 3-0 (6-1)
Bjorn Borg 2-1 (5-3)
Mansour Bahrami 1-2 (2-4)
Guillermo Vilas 0-3 (1-6)
SCHEDULE SUNDAY 28 SEPTEMBER
14:00 Bjorn Borg / Johny Goudenbour (3rd/4th place play-off)
16:00 John McEnroe / Henri Leconte (Final)
BLACKROCK TOUR OF CHAMPIONS POINTS ALLOCATION
Winner 400 points
Finalist 250 points
3rd place 200 points
4th place 125 points
5/6th place 80 points
7/8th place 60 points
SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS 2008 TOUR OF CHAMPIONS RANKINGS (after nine events)
POS. PLAYER PTS
1 Marcelo Rios 1130
2 Goran Ivanisevic 970
3 Michael Stich 900
4 Cedric Pioline 740
5 Thomas Muster 655
6 Sergi Bruguera 610
7 Henri Leconte 580
8 Anders Jarryd 525
9= Marc-Kevin Goellner (WC) 455
9= Fernando Meligeni (WC) 455
11 Pat Cash 420
12= Patrick Rafter 400
12= Pete Sampras 400
12= Stefan Edberg 400
15 Mikael Pernfors 330
16 Chris Wilkinson (WC) 325
17 Jaime Oncins (WC) 200
18= Guy Forget 125
18= Jeremy Bates (WC) 125
18= Albert Costa 125
21= Carl Uwe Steeb 120
21= Guillermo Vilas 120
23= Mats Wilander 80
23= Joao Cunha e Silva (WC) 80
23= Magnus Larsson 80
23= John McEnroe 80
23= Andrei Cherkasov 80
23= Mansour Bahrami 80
29= Bjorn Borg 60
29= Jaime Yzaga 60
29= Alladin Karagoz (WC) 60
29= Andrei Chesnokov 60
WC denotes Wild Card.
The BlackRock Tour of Champions Calendar 2008
Belfast, Northern Ireland – February 21-24 (Tennis Legends)
Champion: Anders Jarryd; Runner-up: Mikael Pernfors
Barcelona, Spain – April 24-27 (Champions Cup ’08)
Champion: Marcelo Rios; Runner-up: Michael Stich
Rome, Italy – May 10-11
Champion: Thomas Muster; Runner-up: Goran Ivanisevic
Hamburg, Germany – May 14-17 (BlackRock Tennis Classic)
Champion: Michael Stich; Runner-up: Marc-Kevin Goellner
Sao Paulo, Brazil – June 19-22 (Nossa Caixa Grand Champions Brasil)
Champion: Pete Sampras; Runner-up: Marcelo Rios
Istanbul, Turkey – July 17-20
Champion: Goran Ivanisevic; Runner-up: Fernando Meligeni
Graz, Austria – July 29-August 2 (s Tennis Masters)
Champion: Patrick Rafter; Runner-up: Michael Stich
Algarve, Portugal – August 5-8 (Vale do Lobo Grand Champions CGD)
Champion: Marcelo Rios ; Runner-up : Goran Ivanisevic
Paris, France – September 18-21 (5e Trophe Jean-Luc Lagardre)
Champion: Stefan Edberg; Runner-up: Sergi Bruguera
Luxembourg, Luxembourg – September 25-28
Eindhoven, Netherlands – October 2-5 (AFAS Tennis Classics)
Budapest, Hungary – October 9-12
Frankfurt, Germany – November 13-16 (klarmobil.de Champions Trophy)
Macao, China – November 20 (Special Event)
London, UK – December 2-7 (BlackRock Masters Tennis)
OTHER INFO
About BlackRock
BlackRock is one of the world’s largest publicly traded investment management firms. At June 30, 2008, BlackRock’s AUM was $1.428 trillion. The firm manages assets on behalf of institutions and individuals worldwide through a variety of equity, fixed income, cash management and alternative investment products. In addition, a growing number of institutional investors use BlackRock Solutions investment system, risk management and financial advisory services. Headquartered in New York City, as of June 30, 2008, the firm has approximately 5,700 employees in 19 countries and a major presence in key global markets, including the U.S., Europe, Asia, Australia and the Middle East. For additional information, please visit the Company’s website at www.blackrock.com.
South Africa’s international flagship airline and the continent’s most awarded carrier, South African Airways is the official airline of the BlackRock Tour of Champions. Its modern fleet features a comfortable Economy Class cabin recently reconfigured for extra legroom and a Premium Business Class cabin featuring the airline’s award-winning, lie-flat seat. Complimentary South African wines, inspired cuisine and personal on-demand entertainment for all travellers make the trip to Africa fly by. Built on a venerable 72-year history of bringing the world to Africa and taking Africa to the world, the airline’s network is unsurpassed on the continent – connecting travellers to more than 20 destinations within South Africa and more than 20 cities across Africa. As a recent member to the worldwide Star Alliance, South African Airways is now able to offer its customers 852 destinations in 152 countries and more than 15,500 flights daily.
For the Latest News, Features and Updates from the BlackRock Tour of Champions: www.blackrocktourofchampions.com
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