STORY TOOLS

• E-mail story
• iPod friendly
• Printer friendly

Tell us about it

• What would you add to this story? Tell us what we missed.
• Do you have photos from this event? Documents we need to see? Share with us.
• Upload photos & videos
• More ways to get your stuff online and in the paper.

More Tennis

• Thanksgiving: Islanders serve food, tennis balls
• Local tennis: Mardy Fish to face Xavier Malisse at Swingtime event at Lely
• Marco tennis clinics set

Share and Enjoy [?]

John McEnroe was serving for the second set to even his match with Aaron Krickstein before a packed house on Friday night.

It didn't go as planned.

Krickstein finally broke through on his fourth break opportunity to get back on serve, down 5-4. Krickstein then rallied from an 0-30 deficit on his serve to even up the set. McEnroe held at love, then had a break point on Krickstein's serve. But Krickstein responded with an ace for deuce and finally forced a tiebreaker.

Then it was over.

Krickstein reached a McEnroe drop shot and deposited it across the net for a mini-break to open the tiebreaker. He won the next four points and went on to win the tiebreaker 7-1 for a 6-1, 7-6 (7-1) victory and a spot in Sunday's title match.

"I seem to obviously play well at night,'' said Krickstein, who will be playing in his first Outback Champions Series title match. "I've had some great night matches in my career. The lights don't bother me. I think tonight was no exception. I saw the ball very well. I was moving extremely well. I think that's the key for my game, if I'm in position to hit my shots.''

Earlier, Jim Courier avenged two straight losses to Wayne Ferreira, pulling out a tight, 7-6 (7-1), 7-5 win.

Krickstein is 2-0 and no matter what he does Saturday night against Jimmy Arias, he'll hold any tiebreakers over Mats Wilander or McEnroe, one of whom will be 2-1 in their round robin group after those two meet later Saturday night.

For the second straight night, McEnroe left without the usual post-match, on-court interview and did not meet with reporters.

McEnroe was more subdued than he was on Thursday night, when he let loose with a couple of profanities and got into it with Arias, his opponent, a couple of times during the match.

But he still had his moments.

McEnroe appeared to be trying to stall between points to get in Krickstein's head. He initiated conversations with some fans, walked back and wiped his head off with a towel. There were even a handful of times he was at the baseline and appeared to be ready, only to hold both hands up until he was.

"I knew going in there was going to be anywhere up to a 10-minute delay at any point in the match, whether it's break point or the first game of the set, or he got a bad call and he didn't like it, whether it was maybe he wanted to take a little break or whether that was a real bad call or whether he just wanted to stall,'' Krickstein said. "But that's John. We all know that out there.

"I'm a fast player,'' he added. "I'm probably one of the fastest players there is. I don't take any time. I like to just get up there and serve and then return. For somebody like me, it's a little more difficult because I like a fast-paced match whether I'm winning or losing.''

McEnroe lost his cool once, up 2-1 in the second set, after disputing a call on a Krickstein serve he thought was out. He continued to prolong the incident. Krickstein went back to his chair at one point. After everything appeared to be resolved, McEnroe again went back from the baseline. Krickstein appeared to get tired of waiting and lobbed a ball over the net, then looked at the chair umpire. When McEnroe realized it, he took a big rip at the ball and hit it off the lights in the light standard behind Krickstein's side of the court.

The chair umpire gave him a code violation, which does not result in the loss of a point.

"At times I thought it was going to escalate into something much grander, so to speak,'' Krickstein said. "It was actually relatively low key.''

Krickstein won the game with an ace, but McEnroe would break him in his next service game, then hold serve for a 5-2 lead. But he couldn't get the set.

"I think his demeanor kind of went down when I got that break back, and I got that jump in the tiebreaker,'' Krickstein said.

Ferreira had beaten Courier two out of three times last year on the Outback Champions Series.

Friday night, the two battled back and forth.

But Courier, the 2006 points champion last year and the defending champion here, rallied to pull out the victory to move to 2-0 in his round robin group.

It was a match-up of the two "kids'' in this event; Ferreira is 35, while Courier is 36. And they played a spirited match with ripping forehands, drop shots and strong serves, particularly by Courier.

"Wayne's the young buck out here,'' Courier said. "He's new on the circuit. You see how much spin he gets on the ball. He gets so much rip on his forehand, well, it just scares me to be honest.''

"Jim served really well tonight,'' Ferreira said. "He served himself out of a lot of trouble. I didn't serve that well. I think that was the big difference. The other times I played him I got a lot more balls in.

"The game itself, all four times we'v eplayed, has been very close on the baseline and the rally side. It comes down to a few points here and there.''

The first set featured a single break opportunity -- by Courier in the second game -- and went to a tiebreaker. But the equal play ended there. Courier won the first six points, including three on Ferreira's serve, to easily take control.

The second set got off to a similar start as the first, but Courier got Ferreira moving and broke him at love for a 2-1 lead. Ferreira tried a drop shot and mis-hit it on the first of what would have been three Courier break points. Courier appeared to be on his way after that, allowing one point to Ferreira on each of his next service games and led 4-2.

But the South African battled back. After easily holding serve himself, Ferreira won the first two points on Courier's serve. He had two break points after Courier hit a cross-court backhand wide. Ferreira then ripped a return on Courier's first serve to even up the set.

"I felt like I was getting some momentum,'' Ferreira said.

Ferreira then held at love. But Courier did as well, then won the last two points on Ferreira's serve for a decisive break. Ferreira managed one point on Courier's serve and that was it.

------

For tickets, call 877-332-8499, go to championsseriestennis.com or buy them on site. To get to parking, go east on U.S. 41 to Collier Boulevard (951). Go north to Lely Cultural Parkway and make a left. Park at the Edison College Collier Campus. Shuttle buses will bring fans to the tournament site. Parking is $5 per car. ... Saturday is Kraft Kids Day with the kids under 18 admitted for a free clinic featuring players from the tournament. It runs from 11 a.m. to noon at The Players Club & Spa. The first 100 kids also receive a free ticket to the Saturday afternoon session.