AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Moya, Malisse sail into last eight

Smart act of big serving Karlovic

K V VASUDEVAN

Chennai, Jan 4:
        No mistaking the quality of the fare between two big servers - Karlovic and Kristian Pless - but devoid of rallies the contest fell short of expectations. Save for Carlos Moya, there were no big names to draw attention on Day Three of the ATP Chennai Open yesterday.

        On a day when the seeds did not do any harm to their stature, Moya dictated the pace and proceedings in his wrap-up act against Kevin Kim.

        So was the Belgian third seed Xavier Malisse, ensuring a smooth day in the office, taking the out-of-touch Italian Stefano Galvani in his stride.

        Much like his demolition act on court, Maya was crisp in the post-match briefing. 'Everything rolled nicely, be it the serves or coming better in the baseline duel. There were a few good rallies, helping me get into the groove quickly. Just the sort of contest I looked forward to before the quarterfinals.'
ON SONG: Spain's Carlos Moya in action
against Kevin Kim in a pre-quarterfinal
match yesterday.
Photos: K Vijay Anand
        Percentage tennis: Easily the tallest player in the current edition, the booming serves of Karlovic would have floored a lesser-known opponent. With his volleying and down the line screamers matched the proven abilities of the Croat, the Dane was kept on his toes. A fair amount of running he had to do, the Croat in a shuffling mood while rushing net to negate the drops.
German Bjorn Phau and his Austrian
partner Alexander Peya discuss strategy
during their encounter.
       With the smart cookies holding serves - trading breaks once - the tie-breaker (both sets) had an inevitable air about it. It boiled down to some variation and sting in the serves where the Croat lend sharpness bending his back to fire the aces.

        You could do more than symphatise for Pless, after all the hard work in the demolition act of Nalbandian. The rustiness taking a walk out of Karlovic was the visual delight on a relaltively prosaic day of tennis.

        Santoro pulls out: Suffering a back pain while playing his singles against David Skoch, World No. 52 Fabrice Santoro pulled out of the doubles. Santaro-Olivier Patience was scheduled to play David Skoch-Thomas Zob. Thai pair of Paradorn Srichaphan and Ratiwatana made it to the draw as the lucky losers.

        Results: Carlos Moya (Esp) bt Kevin Kim (USA) 6-4, 6-3; Iva Karlovic (Cro) bt Kristian Pless (Den) 7-6 (3), 7-6 (2); Xavier Malisse (Bel) bt Stefano Galvani (Italy) 6-3, 6-2.
        Doubles (1st round): Srichaphan-Ratiwatana (Tha) bt David Skoch-Tomas Zib (Cze); Malisse-Norman (Bel) bt David Sanguinetti (Ita)-Waske (Ger) 4-6, 6-1, 10-7; Alexander Peya (Aut)-Phau (Ger) bt James Auckland (Gbr)-Sephen Huss (Aus) 3-6, 6-3, 10-8; Leos Friedl (Cze)-Michael Kohlmann (Ger) bt J Benneteau (Fra)- N Mahut (Fra) 6-3, 4-6, 11-9.
GO TOP  / HOME / OTHER SPECIAL STORIES