Llodra-Santoro Claim Masters Cup Crown
Llodra & Santoro French duo Michael Llodra and Fabrice Santoro captured
the 2005 Tennis Masters Cup Doubles title after a dramatic three-set
victory over Leander Paes and Nenad Zimonjic at
the Qi Zhong Stadium in Shanghai.
In what was their last tournament together, Llodra and Santoro
recovered from a set down to defeat the No. 5 seeds 6-7(6), 6-3,
7-6(4) in 2 hours, 36 minutes and claim their first year-end championship.
Llodra and Santoro, who lost to Bob and Mike Bryan in the 2003
Tennis Masters Cup final in Houston, became the first all-French
winners of the year-end Championships. Guy Forget teamed with
Jakob Hlasek to win the ATP Tour World Championship in 1990.
It was the fourth title of the year for the French duo, who also
won the ATP Masters Series tournament in Rome as well as on home
soil in Metz and Lyon indoors.
Llodra-Santoro finished second in the Gold Group after defeating
Jonas Bjorkman-Max Mirnyi and Stephen Huss-Wesley Moodie. In the
semifinals, they ended the two-year Tennis Masters Cup reign of
top seeds and World No. 1 doubles pairing Bob and Mike Bryan.
Paes and Zimonjic, who were appearing in their first Tennis Masters
Cup as a team, also were playing in their final match as a pair
before Zimonjic goes on to team with Santoro in 2006.
Paes was playing in his fourth year-end Championship final -
the previous three with countryman Mahesh Bhupathi - and was looking
for his first title in the elite eight-team tournament.
Paes and Zimonjic were looking for their third title this year
having won in Barcelona and Masters Series Monte-Carlo. They finished
second in the Red Group before reaching the final with a straight
sets victory over third seeds Wayne Black and Kevin Ullyett.
With Llodra concentrating on singles in 2006, Santoro and Zimonjic
will pair together while Paes will play with Martin Damm of the
Czech Republic.
WHAT THE PLAYERS SAID:
Llodra: "We are very happy to finish like that. Now it's
a new - not new life, but new - he's going to play with Nenad
next year, and I'm going to focus more on my singles. It's going
to change. Next year, it's going to change some for me a lot because
normally I play with Fabrice, and next year I'm going to play
with someone else."
On the doubles changes: "We heard last year we're going
to change the score system. Is going to be new for everyone. First,
I think it's important we have to play two sets, straight sets.
I'm not support maybe the no ad, but I like the super tiebreak,
the third set super tiebreak. I think it's a good idea to promote
- not to promote, but to change the format. I would say it's good.
We have to try, and we'll see at the end of the next year what's
going on. But we have to try to change something.
Santoro: "The attention we had during the whole week
for doubles is great. The atmosphere on the court for the final
today was just unbelievable. When people are enjoying a match,
it doesn't matter if it's a singles or for doubles. You can see
in the crowd during your match that they are happy to be there
and they are enjoying the match like we did on the court."
On the doubles changes: "The new scoring system is not made
to kill the game. It's the opposite. It's made to improve the
game. I think the scoring system will stay the same in the Grand
Slam, probably in the Masters Cup next year. But in older events,
it's better to play shorter matches, to get the attention of the
singles player, and to push maybe the singles players to play
more doubles. If at the end more singles players play doubles,
it will be better for the game, better for dubs, better for the
tournament and the crowd."
Zimonjic: "When you look at the whole week, it was
a great experience being in China and the Tennis Masters Cup.
I thought we played really good tennis. I thought it was disappointing
that in both matches we lost, we had chances to win. It's a great
tournament and a nice way to end the season.
"We played well, we got early breaks in both sets, then
lost Lea's serve. We didn't capitalize on the breaks. In the second
tie breaker, we almost had a chance to win at 4-5.
"I thought the turning point of the game was in the second
set when we lost Leander's serve and the tie-breaker is always
a matter of 1 or 2 points."
Exclusive
Audio | Press
Transcripts
Friday Doubles:
Llodra-Santoro Claim Last Semifinal Spot
Thursday
Doubles: Bryans Scrape Through to Semifinals
Wednesday
Doubles: Black-Ullyett Move into Semis
Tuesday Doubles:
Paes and Zimonjic Clinch Semifinal Berth
Monday Doubles:
Huss-Moodie Dent Bjorkman-Mirnyi's Hopes
Sunday Doubles:
Arthurs-Hanley Stun Bryan Brothers
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