By Randy Walker
NEWPORT, R.I. – It could easily received consideration as “the greatest tennis of all time.”
Except it was a second-round match at the lowest-level ATP World Tour event between two middle-ranked players.
Prior to playing in Sunday’s championship match at the Campbell’s Hall of Fame Championships, the last meeting between Mardy Fish of the United States and Olivier Rochus of Belgium was the most closely contested best-of-three-set match ever on the ATP World Tour.
As documented in my book ON THIS DAY IN TENNIS HISTORY ($19.95, New Chapter Press, www.TennisHistoryBook.com), it was on October 25, 2007 that Rochus saved five match points and defeated Fish by the narrowest of margins 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (17-15) in a second-round match at the event in Lyon, France.
In the aftermath of the famous John Isner-Nicolas Mahut 11 hour, 5 minute 70-68 in the fifth-set Wimbledon classic – that featured an incredible 113 aces from Isner and 103 from Mahut – kudos must go to Fish, who hit an incredible 43 aces in the loss to Rochus in Lyon.
“It was a crazy match in Lyon,” said Rochus Saturday of his epic with Fish. “He had a lot of match points, but Mardy is more solid and in a good way. Mardy has a lot of confidence at the moment.”
Saturday in Newport, Fish advanced into the final, his 15th in his ATP World Tour career, by defeating Richard Bloomfield of Great Britain 7-6 (5), 6-4. Rochus bested Argentina’s Brian Dabul 6-3, 6-2 to reach his eight career singles final.
Fish has been the top-seeded player in Newport the last three years but will be seeking his first singles title in the New England coastal town and his fourth overall ATP World Tour title on Sunday. Fish was the top seed in Newport in 2007, where he lost in the first round to Aisam Qureshi of Pakistan, in 2008, when he lost in the second round to Rohan Bopanna of India, and last year, before pulling out of the event after the start of the tournament to replace Andy Roddick on the U.S. Davis Cup team in the USA’s match against Croatia. Fish did, however, win the doubles title here in 2008 with John Isner.
The turning point in the Fish-Bloomfield match came at 4-4 in the second set when Bloomfield led 40-15 on his serve, only to double-fault three times in a row. The 27-year-old Brit was able to fight off the first break point with a volley winner, but wasn’t as lucky two points later as his backhand volley off Fish’s return of serve floated long. Fish then served out the straight set victory in the next game.
Said Bloomfield, “At this level, three double faults in a row is not good enough.”
Bloomfield, a qualifier ranked No. 552, was looking to become the lowest-ranked player to ever win an ATP World Tour title. Prior to competing in Newport, he had won only one ATP-level singles match in his career. His semifinal showing will earn him a ranking of approximately No. 292, according to Greg Sharko of the ATP World Tour.
Prior to the start of play Saturday, Australians Mark Woodforde, Todd Woodbridge and Owen Davidson, Puerto Rico’s Gigi Fernandez, Natasha Zvereva of Belarus, Brad Parks of the United States and Derek Hardwick of Britain were inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
Randy Walker is a communications and marketing specialist, writer, tennis historian and the managing partner of New Chapter Media – www.NewChapterMedia.com. He was a 12-year veteran of the U.S. Tennis Association’s marketing and communications division where he worked as the press officer for 22 U.S. Davis Cup ties, three Olympic tennis teams and was an integral part of USTA media services team for 14 US Opens. He is the author of the book ON THIS DAY IN TENNIS HISTORY (www.TennisHistoryBook.com).