The Hindu : Sport : Ljubicic lords over Moya

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Monday, Jan 09, 2006

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Sport

Ljubicic lords over Moya

Nandita Sridhar

Booming serves does the trick

— Photo: Vino John

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED: Ivan Ljubicic dashed Carlos Moya's hopes of hat-trick of titles at the Chennai Open.

Chennai: Ivan Ljubicic is a simple man with a simple solution for simple situations (and not so simple ones too). A simple ace. Situation 1-Bad line calls. Solution, ace. Situation two-break point down. Solution, ace. Situation three-silly unforced error. Solution, ace. Situation four-Well, no situation really, but another ace does no one (except Carlos Moya) no harm. The first set tie-break proved to be a heart-break for Moya, with Ljubicic clinching it from behind and he finally ended up winning the Chennai Open 2006 7-6 (6), 6-2, after it looked like he might be suffering from a Kristof Vliegen hangover.

The match started off with Ljubicic throwing up a few hints that he had left behind every other weapon in his hotel room except of course, those scorching serves. Sometimes, the court appeared to shrink at his mere presence, with quite a number of shots flying out. Luckily for him, Moya didn't get a whiff of where his weapons were left languishing and contributed his share of unforced errors as well.

But Stepanek's repeated invitations to Moya to come to the net in the semifinal familiarised Moya with what was erstwhile unfamiliar territory. The set was going on serve. Both were content doing what they did from start. Ljubicic served and saved. Moya served and sliced, with his backhand that is. There were moments when Ljubicic did look a little defensive, but he did place some powerful passing shots, both ways, and with a serve like that, breaking him was going to be, shall we say, impossible, if Moya wished to preserve his racket, arm and everything else.

In the tie-break, Moya gobbled up the first four points, thanks to Ljibicic who showed a little too much gratitude while returning Moya's serves. He did target the Moya backhand, which, in the tie-break (only in the tie-break, to Moya's credit) was something between weak and non-existent. And then, the serves poured in. Actually it didn't just pour, it seemed more like a hailstorm that Moya had to contend with. And when Moya threw in a doublefault, he threw out the first set, which Ljubicic managed to catch without fail.

In the second set, he replaced some of his polite returns with, shall we say, slightly rude ones. The single-handed backhand almost single handedly played its part in some of his best returns. But that was also because of Moya's first serves were not coming at exactly how he would have liked it to. Ljubicic broke Moya with a great backhand cross-court, and after than, it just seemed a matter of time, before the packed stadium heared the familiar words 'game, set match', but this time, with a different name.

Turning point

"He served unbelievably. I really cannot complain about my backhand. He played better. Mentally it is very tough to comeback after a first set loss. I suddenly felt tired. With him, I had to take every chance. The two set-points in tie-break that I missed was the turning point. He is not making that many mistakes as he was doing before. He is a complete player," said Moya. "Yesterday's match was very hard."

"I played the best tennis tonight. Physically I am feeling fit. I was ready from the first point. Even the tie-break, I believed I could win it and win the title," said the champion Ljubicic. His first visit ended to a good not on all levels, both tennis, and outside tennis too. "The organisation here is at a high level. Everything worked perfectly."

Kristof Vliegen puts up a good fight

Kristof Vliegen put up a very good show, but ended up losing to Ljubicic 3-6, 6-3, 6-7(6), in the semifinal in the morning. Vliegen responded to Ljubicic's bombs with surprising ease and his placements were excellent. But he found his luck deserting him in the crucial points with the ball finding the net. He lost the match after having a match point.

"I feel bitter. I was one point from entering the final," said a disappointed Vliegen.

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