Epic Wins

watermelonslice

Club Legend
Jul 15, 2009
1,147
4
Melbourne
AFL Club
Geelong
2008 Wimbledon final.

2005 AO semifinal: Safin def Federer. IIRC Federer had a match point in the fourth set. The actual final between Safin and Hewitt was a joke in comparison.

2009 AO semifinal: Nadal def Verdasco. I actually didn't know who to cheer for during the match. Nando played the best tennis of his career.

2006 Rome final: Nadal def Federer. That one was nuts, one of best quality clay court matches I've ever seen.

2000 AO semifinal: Agassi def Sampras. The first 'bloody epic' match I'd really witnessed.
 
I'd like to nominate the third round match at the 2009 Australian Open between Gasquet and Gonzalez on Margaret Court Arena. I was lucky enough to be at this match live, and until the Nadal v Verdasco match, I rated it the best of the tournament.

Gasquet had a match point in the third set tiebreak, but Gonzalez went on to win 3–6 3–6 7–6(10) 6–2 12–10.

Both men won 191 points for the match, and a staggering 165 winners were recorded. Add an amazing atmosphere (Chileans and French) to some amazing tennis and I think it was an epic match.
 
Isnt it funny how both players can win the exact numbers of points OR even one player win less amount of points than the other, but they win the match.

Is there any other sport in the world where this can happen??

My bf claims billiards (ie, you can pot more balls, but then pot the black and lose the game to your opponent).
 
Just adding to the above, the match went four hours and nine minutes. Both players had 14 break points for the match, and both players converted six of them.

And the Chileans let off a flare when Gonzalez won.

To your point Shell, I guess you could say that in footy a team can lose with more goals, and in rugby union and league a team can lose with more tries.
 

Caesar

Ex-Huckleberry
Mar 3, 2005
29,399
15,659
Tombstone, AZ
AFL Club
Western Bulldogs
I guess there's different sort of situations like that. You've obviously got all the other sports that use a similar "sets" system - volleyball, table tennis, darts, squash, real tennis.

Other sports is harder. Chess - take more pieces than your opponent and still get checkmated. Bridge - take more tricks than your opponent, but if you don't make contracts properly you can lose.
 

tigers71

Club Legend
Apr 15, 2007
1,234
40
Melbourne
AFL Club
Richmond
Other Teams
Real Madrid
2009 AO mens final which Rafael Nadal defeated Roger Federer 7-5 3-6 7-6 3-6 6-2. It lasted until 1am and it was the best match I have seen at the Open.

1995 AO mens final Andre Agassi defeated Pete Sampras 4-6 6-1 7-6 6-4 another great match. I also saw this match live.
 

Drummond

Brownlow Medallist
Jun 13, 2005
29,654
14,586
Adelaide
AFL Club
Adelaide
Other Teams
Norwood, Red Wings
2008 Wimbledon final.
2009 Nadal/Verdasco AO SF.

But to this day the best match I've ever seen, 2006 Rome Masters final. Nadal def Federer 6–7(0), 7–6(5), 6–4, 2–6, 7–6(5). Amazing.
 

hirdy_is_champ

Premiership Player
Nov 22, 2003
3,790
574
tunnel
AFL Club
Essendon
Other Teams
ESSENDON
Yeah that was such an underrated match. No one had mentioned it- I thought it was a match of pretty high quality, Roddick was playing out of his skin.

Views on this match are pretty mixed. Some say it was shithouse because it was a serve-a-thon, others say it was one of the best of all time. I thought it was a pretty bloody epic match though. I'm not a Roddick fan (he's a bigger sook than Lleyton Hewitt) but I felt sorry for him after that match. He's so much better than 1 slam.

Also I'm gonna nominate Stosur's RG QF against Serena. Whilst there may've been a bit of lull in the standard in the middle of the match, it was a pretty bloody gutsy effort from Stosur.
 
Yeah that was such an underrated match. No one had mentioned it- I thought it was a match of pretty high quality, Roddick was playing out of his skin.

Because it was an absolute serve-a-thon. I enjoyed it and was high quality epic win (especially given the serving) but no way the amount of enjoyment level like 2008 and Nadal/Fed

Stosur's two points to break Serena at RG were epic, it was an epic match itself given the storyline just thinking about those two points send shivers up the spine. (Then you think about the final, though).
 

hirdy_is_champ

Premiership Player
Nov 22, 2003
3,790
574
tunnel
AFL Club
Essendon
Other Teams
ESSENDON
2001 us open. 2 nights in a row we saw some classic tennis. pete and andre played out a classic 4 setter and all 4 sets went to a tie break and the next day. little lleyton won a 5 set epic over roddick

Hewitt Roddick match from 01 US Open, you might be interested in watching this.
[youtube]5sr3A10qZkE&feature=related[/youtube]
 
Hewitt Roddick match from 01 US Open, you might be interested in watching this.
[youtube]5sr3A10qZkE&feature=related[/youtube]

That was a great match, and still one of Roddick's best tantums :thumbsu:
 
Isner v Mahut would qualify I think :p

Hey my thread! :)

Lol, I havent been really following Wimbledon (yet- i go on holidays as of tomorrow).. and was astounded to hear the news this morning.

10 hours?!?!?!?!

Thats like... one day/night game of cricket.... or 5 games of AFL.... 6.5 games of soccer...

Crazy.
 

Caesar

Ex-Huckleberry
Mar 3, 2005
29,399
15,659
Tombstone, AZ
AFL Club
Western Bulldogs
Remembered one of the great Wimbledon finals of all time today - Edberg v Becker 1990.

Third year in a row that the two had met in the final. Edberg won in '88 and Becker won in '89. Edberg went out to an early 2 sets lead, Becker stormed back to win the next 2. Early in the fifth set Becker went up a break and looked to have all the momentum - but Edberg broke twice to win the decider 6-4.

Brilliant match, with the beautiful grasscourt tennis that only comes from two contrasting styles both equally suited to the surface and played by their master proponents. The sheer power of Becker versus the elegant finesse of Edberg.

Will have to dig out my tape of it when I get some time. I could watch their Wimbledon encounters all day. Edberg is my favourite player of all time - he was practically poetic when his game was on song.
 
Back