Hocus Pocus! Santoro def Ferrero 6-3 6-2 6-7(5) 6-2

Who doesn't believe in magic?

And just to set the record straight, there was NOTHING WRONG WITH JCF PHYSICALLY.

Brainless play from Juanqui, the magician at his best, just toying arround with Ferrero, should have won it in straight sets...

Chapeaux Fabrice, amazing stuff for a semi-retired genius....

:haha:

props to the Magican

Santoro :worship:

Ferrero retire mate!

Fabrice :worship: He played his first match in Melbourne before Tomic was born :lol:
8/8 in BP's today :yeah:

Legend of the game.

:haha: JCF

Brilliant stuff from Fabrice.

Santoro converted 8/8 BPs
JCF converted 3/7 BPs

There was only one man that really wanted this. JCF never put up a fight.

Fun match!

Santoro :worship:

There goes all my vcash.

There was some ridiculous shots Santoro pulled off which no doubt will appear on YouTube before long. One especially where he threw his racket at the ball and it landed just on the other side of the net. Just too good.

Fabrice just read his game like an open book, kudos to Ferrero for not even trying to mix it up a bit, too predictable for the whole match...

the once clay court king Ferrero was finished :sad::mad:

still some magic left :worship: what a legend

didn't see this one coming

Fab Fab!!! :worship:

!Fabrizino!

I literally feel nauseous.

Poor Ferrero :sad:

He didn't seem to be playing terribly, but he played right into the hands of Santoro. Perhaps he should have considererd standing closer to the baseline to receive...

He still has a decent well-rounded game but lacks confidence.

Anyway, I wish him better luck for his next tournament.

Fabrice just read his game like an open book, kudos to Ferrero for not even trying to mix it up a bit, too predictable for the whole match...
Every player is an open book to Santoro. It's rumoured that he has a huge Excel sheet containing the strengths and weaknesses of every pro on his laptop. :)

Lovely! : )

Abracadabra stuff.:worship:

Every player is an open book to Santoro. It's rumoured that he has a huge Excel sheet containing the strengths and weaknesses of every pro on his laptop. :)

Explains how he's managed to win the mother of all tourneys (Newport) TWICE!!

I was there, fun match. Santoro was really toying with Ferrero out there, love that slice. Ferrero didn't have a clue.

Santoro's shot where he dived and racket left his hand somehow got over and span abck over the net. I've got to say that's the craziezt shot I have seen, I had some French coach sitting beside me who was in stiches, couldn't believe it.

If there was a smiley with two fingers up, I would use it to for all those people who said Fab was an embarrassment and should retire after he lost to Nadal. The man is class!

suprising such a score and santoro hitting 17 aces. This is was Fabrice revenge for his 7-5 five set defeat in 2003.

Great to read about some Fabrice-magic, but did it have to be against Ferrero? ;)

the mighty Magician :worship: :worship: :worship:

now it's Kohlschreiber's turn to turn into a rabbit!!!! :devil:

great stuff from Fabrice, what a legend.

:sad: Juanqui...

Ferrero amazes me sometimes. :rolleyes:

Three years ago I'd probably be fuming with this kind of loss. Now I'm like "next"

if somebody has some of the greatest points of the match it would be nice if he can post it :) :)

Fabrice :worship: He played his first match in Melbourne before Tomic was born :lol:
8/8 in BP's today :yeah:Yes Voo!!!!!!!;):eek::eek:;)
:yeah::yeah::yeah:

Was at this match today and Fabrice is a God. What a player this guy is. Such a shame this is his last year. his like will never been seen again.

The shot where is racket came out of his hand and the ball bounced on Ferrero's side then bounced back on fabrices side was amazing. Hope the TV picked it up good.

Ferrero :help:

the Magician is a friggin legend, the Ferreira of our generation! :worship:

Fab :hatoff:

What a joke this Ferrero.

Santoro is on the social security retirement list alreadya and still won this match.

if somebody has some of the greatest points of the match it would be nice if he can post it :) :)

Yup, second that. :)

if somebody has some of the greatest points of the match it would be nice if he can post it :) :)

For 5 EUROS you can get the match in its entirety, and every other televised match of the fortnight if you sign up to the Eurosport player.

I'm still shocked when Ferrero turns in a performance as lightweight as this, even five years after his prime. If you came into this match cold without knowing who either of the players were, you'd mistake the Spaniard for the guy in his mid-thirties on his farewell season. I only saw the fourth set, and Santoro really was governing the play in his inimitably entertaining way, but he was coming up against very little opposition. Still, I'm really happy for him after that embarassing demolition at Nadal's hands in Doha. He can now embark on 2009 with a rejuvenated sense of self-belief after beating a former no. 1 what, 9 years his junior?

retire jcf
now

Santoro is awesome, gotta love the guy! Ultmiate opportunist :worship:

Ferrero :(

awful result again :o
Played pretty good in Auckland, and now such a performance again!
It gets worse every year! :(

great :D

Was at this match today and Fabrice is a God. What a player this guy is. Such a shame this is his last year. his like will never been seen again.

The shot where is racket came out of his hand and the ball bounced on Ferrero's side then bounced back on fabrices side was amazing. Hope the TV picked it up good.

The more I read about this shot and try to take in what apparently happened it sounds like the stuff of fantasy and CGI effects, not a genuinely humanly possible shot. But if anyone could do the this then obviously it would be Fabrice. He ain't the Magician for nothing. :bowdown:

5 euros. wow i might sign up for this.

wooooooooooo i love it everytime santoro wins. its sad to see ferrero be everyones bitch these days but im happy for the magician

Fabrice :yeah:
well done

Santoro :worship:

Ferrero retire mate!

Santoro is getting pretty old there to :D

JC :sad:

I'm glad I didn't see any of this. As much as I usually like watching Fabrice, I wouldn't have enjoyed this. I don't know what JC's plans are. I hope he keeps playing as long as he enjoys it, although he'd be enjoying it a hell of a lot more if he won more! :p Find a way to, JC! :hug:

Santoro is a great player!:worship:

Magical performance Fabrice. Wish I couldv'e watched.
Can't wait to see you here in Johannesburg in a couple of weeks.
:worship:

Santoro is a legend.

Sadly the match is not on the Eurosport Player because Court 6 isn't covered there. :(

If anyone could post a couple of highlights on youtube (or at least THE point), that would be awesome.

...
If anyone could post a couple of highlights on youtube (or at least THE point), that would be awesome.

my thinking too. :D i would love to see it

Congrats to Fabrice! :worship:

Yeah, I just got Eurosport Player just so I could see "The Point". Please someone, anyone, this needs to be posted on YouTube or somewhere else at least. Santoro fans around the world are dying to see this.

as i watched this match and saw ferrero continually dump backhands into the net off fabrice slices, i began to wonder if jcf even knows how to hit a slice bh. then, in the last set he actually hit one to my amazement. it was just magic vs. uninspired, error filled brainless bashing, and the magic deservedly won.

that point in the 4th set was insane. they rallied for a couple shots before fabrice took his slice forehand down the line very deep to ferrero's bh corner. ferrero got there and hit a great, dipping angled pass crosscourt, running bh pass off his back foot. right in the middle of the net, fabrice seemed to have no chance but he lunged and flung himself at the ball. i think simultaneously as he hit the ball, the racquet flew out of his hand toward the umpire chair. then you see the ball go straight up in the air, drop straight down about 1" on the other side of the court, then the spin rockets the ball back over to santoro's side as he drops to the ground in celebration. crazy stuff.

I'm not too surprised, Ferrero has no tactics, no game-plan, seeing him lose is great.

Sadly the match is not on the Eurosport Player because Court 6 isn't covered there. :(

If anyone could post a couple of highlights on youtube (or at least THE point), that would be awesome.


Yeah, sorry, a bit of misinformation on my part, but I was as disappointed as anyone else when I signed up for the service and found out there was no Santoro match. I can't freakin' understand why Eurosport could transmit the match (which they did sporadically) and not have a copy of it on the internet service. Pretty infuriating, and not uncharacteristic of the channel's wildly inconsistent coverage of tennis over the years -sometimes inspired, sometimes average, and other times plain awful.

Fabrice! :worship:

I wish I could have seen this match. :(

Wonder what caused JCF's apparently lacklustre play against someone he'd previously handled with relative ease :confused:

Anyway, hard for me to be too upset given his opponent so congrats to Santoro for, if nothing else, giving a typically stylish effort and proving he's not in big tournies just to make up the numbers. Plus I too look forward to seeing that incredible shot described earlier.

Ferrero should retire

that point in the 4th set was insane. they rallied for a couple shots before fabrice took his slice forehand down the line very deep to ferrero's bh corner. ferrero got there and hit a great, dipping angled pass crosscourt, running bh pass off his back foot. right in the middle of the net, fabrice seemed to have no chance but he lunged and flung himself at the ball. i think simultaneously as he hit the ball, the racquet flew out of his hand toward the umpire chair. then you see the ball go straight up in the air, drop straight down about 1" on the other side of the court, then the spin rockets the ball back over to santoro's side as he drops to the ground in celebration. crazy stuff.

exactly, and actually it was difficult to know if it was a valid point or not, as the racket must still be in his hand when he hits the ball.

That's likely because I can't imagine how the ball had such spin if the racket was out of his hand :confused:,

but it's a pity that there was no zooming replay to see it more near :cool:

Becker could have made a shot like this but I don't remember him doing exactly the same

I must say, this match was AWESOME!!! I was there live, the crowd loved it, and Santoro was playing to perfection. JC fought and fought but just couldn't pull it off. I don't have the time to write a detailed account of the match, but regardless of the stats (unforced errors were horrible from JC), this match was fantastic from the viewpoint of all who watched it