Enqvist Isn’t Cloning Around

Son of Bjorn, Mats or Stefan, he is not.

Sure, Thomas Enqvist is Swedish and, like his tennis-playing countrymen before him, the guy is decidedly low-key. But by design, and necessity, he is his own kind of player.

You won’t see him serving and volleying, a la Edberg. Or parked well beyond the baseline, creating chaos with topspin. His personal mixture of attacking tennis is overwhelming enough to land him at No. 8 in the world.

And Saturday, it lifted him into another final, as Enqvist dispatched Guillaume Raoux of France, 6-4, 6-1, in the Infiniti Open semifinals at UCLA’s Los Angeles Tennis Center. In today’s final, he will play Jim Courier.

“Compared with Borg and Wilander, I probably play a little bit more aggressive--the tennis has been changing, we hit the ball harder,” Enqvist said. “I probably play with less spin on the ball, hit the ball harder and probably make more mistakes. I would say I’m a baseline player, but I’m probably the new kind of baseline player.”

Enqvist, seeded second, has yet to drop a set here and needed only 62 minutes against Raoux. It’s even more impressive considering this is his first event in 12 weeks after tearing tendons in his left foot in May when he tripped over his racket bag in Monte Carlo during practice.

Now, Enqvist is more careful.

“I put them up in the garage,” he said, joking.

The mishap kept him from playing in the French Open and Wimbledon. But the layoff certainly has not hurt his game, according to Raoux. The Frenchman, who reached his second semifinal of the year with wins here against Patrick Rafter and Mark Philippoussis, was perplexed when asked what stood out about Enqvist’s game.

“What is he doing? He’s hitting his first serve like more than 120 [mph] every time,” said Raoux, who is ranked 80th in the world.

“He served maybe 60% of first serves.

“He never missed a backhand.

“He hit very hard on forehand.

“He’s moving well.”

Raoux paused and asked, “What else? I didn’t see him volley because he didn’t have to. Maybe his volley is bad.”

Enqvist had one brief lapse in the first set after he led, 3-0, and had two break points. Raoux fought back, held his serve, and won the next two games to tie it, 3-3. Steadying himself, Enqvist lost only two more games in the match, and took seven of the final eight points, sealing the victory with a forehand passing shot down the line.

Enqvist, 23, also possesses one impressive statistic--he is 11-1 in finals, losing only to Michael Stich in this event in 1995.