McEnroe One Win from No. 1 Senior RankingPosted on May 15, 2006  John McEnroe kept his hopes alive for a berth in the final this week at the Merrill Lynch Tour of Champions senior stop in Rome, on Monday defeating home-country favorite Renzo Furlan 6-2, 3-6, 10-3 (tiebreak) to raise his record to 1-1 in round-robin play."It was just tough to stay concentrated out there for the whole match," said the No. 3-ranked McEnroe, beating a player making his senior debut in 2006. "You know on this surface you have to be so mentally tough and I couldn't keep it up in the second set. My mind went wandering off to another court for a little bit but I managed to recover for the tiebreak." In other matches Sergi Bruguera beat Carl-Uwe Steeb dropping only four games, and Cedric Pioline allowed only five games to opponent Pat Cash. Entering the final day of round robin play, McEnroe, Pioline, Furlan and Cash all stand at a 1-1 win-loss in Group A, with the winner facing Bruguera, who has already clinched Group B, in the final. Emerging from his round robin group on Tuesday would guarantee McEnroe the top spot come Monday on the Tennis-X.com World Senior Rankings, leapfrogging American-tour star Jim Courier and two-time 2006 title winner and current No. 1 Marcelo Rios. On court Tuesday in Rome are McEnroe vs. Pioline, Cash vs. Furlan, and Henri Leconte vs. Claudio Mezzadri. 2006 TENNIS-X.COM WORLD SENIOR RANKINGS (through May 7) 1. Marcelo Rios (800 pts.) 2. Jim Courier (600) 3. John McEnroe (575) 4. Sergi Bruguera (480) 5T. Pat Cash (450) 5T. Cedric Pioline (450) 7T. Richard Krajicek (400) 7T. Todd Martin (400) 9. Thomas Muster (375) 10. Carlos Costa (250) The Tennis-X.com World Senior Rankings is a cumulative ranking for senior tour players combining results from the Merrill Lynch Tour of Champions in Europe, and the Outback Champions Series in the U.S. |
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