The Hindu : Sport : Moya survives Knowle scare

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jan 05, 2005

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Sport

Moya survives Knowle scare

By K. Keerthivasan

Top seed Carlos Moya faced some anxious moments before he overcame Julian Knowle at the Chennai Open. — Photo: R. Ragu

CHENNAI, JAN. 4. Carlos Moya of Spain survived anxious moments before downing qualifier Julian Knowle of Austria, ranked 141 in the ATP Entry list, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) in the first round of the Chennai Open tennis championship at the Nungambakkam Stadium here on Tuesday. Moya will meet Swiss Ivo Heuberger in the second round.

For Carlos Moya keeping the fans on tenterhooks has become a habit. When he came here in 1999, he conceded the match to German Rainer Schuettler and again in 2000, he pulled out at the last minute, and last year he overcame American Paul Goldstein.

Julian Knowle is no pushover as he has been in the circuit long enough to trouble any top-class player on his day. The left-handed Austrian served well, produced many double-fisted backhand winners catching Moya unawares on more than one occasion.

Moya started in a typical flamboyant fashion; aces, forehand and backhand winners. The fans' familiar chant "Come on Moya" rent the air. Racing to a 3-2 lead with a break in the fifth game, Moya was in control. He closed out the first set in the 10th game.

Knowle bounced back with effective first serves and exquisite volley winners in the second set. The Austrian broke Moya in the second game to go ahead 2-0. Moya dictated terms with delectable passing shots in the fifth game. Serving hard with speed ranging from 190-210 km/hr, Moya was on course and did not lose his serve thereafter and the match went to the tie-breaker.

The Austrian did well to rally from 3-0 down to 5-4; his double-fisted backhands and first serves were spot on. The top-seed stepped up the momentum and did not flinch any further as he served a handy first serve that Knowle could only barely reach, and finished the one hour 30 minute match with an ace.

"A win is a win. There couldn't have been a better start than this. My legs dropped a bit and I lost focus in the second set. He is a dangerous player and has a good return," said Moya, who is playing his first match after his Davis Cup final exploits at Seville recently.

Carraz out

On Monday, Gregory Carraz of France joined Rainer Schuettler as the second seeded player to bow out of the tournament. The seventh-seed lost to Adrian Garcia 6-4, 6-3.

The top-seeded pair of Mahesh Bhupathi and Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden overcame early jitters before defeating the Belgium duo of Christophe Rochus and Tom VanHoudt 7-6 (10-8), 6-3 to advance to the quarterfinals.

Lu downs Paes

Leander Paes, a wild card, fought gallantly and even briefly showed visions of taking his first round match against Yen-Hsun Lu of Chinese Taipei to the third set. But the sixth seed prevailed 6-2, 7-6 (7-5) in an hour and 19 minutes.

After losing the first set rather tamely, Leander changed tactics. He chipped and charged, showed his reflexes have not dipped one bit. Trailing 4-5 (30-40) in the tenth game, Leander saved one match point with a brilliant drop volley, and then closed out the game with a volley winner.

Leander had his chances to win the next game, but he messed it up with some loose shots from the baseline. Leander did not give up in the tie-breaker as he fought from being 3-6 down to 5-6. Finally, when Leander's forehand went long, it signalled the end of the Indian in the main draw. "It takes time to get into rhythm so early. He (Lu) definitely has a lot of promise and talent. He is a

counter-puncher, and is very fast. You got to have rhythm against such a player. I'm playing singles mainly to get ready for doubles. The more singles I play, the better prepared I am for the doubles," said Paes.

The results (Indians unless otherwise mentioned):

First round: Singles: Carlos Moya (Esp) bt Julian Knowle (Aut) 6-4, 7-6 (7-4); Kevin Kim (U.S.) bt Harsh Mankad 6-4, 4-6, 6-4; Jonas Bjorkman (Swe) bt Karan Rastogi 6-4, 6-0; Nicolas Devilder (Fra) bt Marcos Baghdatis (Cyp) 6-4, 6-7 (10-12), 7-6 (7-5); Kenneth Carlsen (Den) bt Noam Okun (Isr) 7-6 (7-0), 6-4; Adrian Garcia (Chi) bt Gregory Carraz (Fra) 6-4, 6-3; Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Esp) bt Dennis Van Scheppingen (Ned) 3-6, 6-3, 6-2; Kristof Vliegen (Bel) bt Santiago Ventura (Esp) 7-6 (8-6), 5-7, 6-4.

Doubles: Jonas Bjorkman (Swe)/Mahesh Bhupathi (Ind) bt Christophe Rochus/Tom Vanhoudt (Bel) 7-6 (10-8), 6-3; Ashley Fisher (Aus)/Tripp Phillips (US) bt Mustafa Ghouse/Vishal Uppal (Ind) 6-1, 6-2.

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