The Hindu : Sport : Moya enters quarterfinals

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Thursday, Jan 04, 2007
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Moya enters quarterfinals

Nandita Sridhar

POPULAR CHAMPION: Carlos Moya once again rode the crowd support to an easy win. — Photo: R. Ragu

Chennai: The Carlos Moya phenomenon is one that's been analysed threadbare, spoken and written about from every conceivable angle and yet manages to intrigue. He's asked the same question year after year, for which he patiently gives differently worded, but similar sounding answers. "I love the city," "I love the people," "The people love me," we've heard them all, but have we actually understood what makes him tick here? Is feeding off crowd support sufficient to succeed, after months spent in mediocrity.

It's true that a Kevin Kim, ranked 100 in the world, is no threat but neither was a Juan Martin Del Porto (106), a Jiri Novak (131), an Evgeny Korolev (159) or an Albert Montanes (96), who all got the measure of the Spaniard last year. Moya's success here is all about confidence and, to a small extent, freakish geographical luck. He beat Kim 6-4, 6-3, in the second round of the Chennai Open at the Nungabakkam Stadium on Wednesday, with a combination of both.

Turning point

The turning point was the first set of the match, with the set score at 5-4 on serve, and Kim serving to stay in the first set. Moya whipped a stunning forehand down the line, followed by a winner on the run. A cross-court ripper later, Kim found his shot in the net, giving Moya the first set 6-4. It took just those few minutes of inspiring play for Kim to lose it all.

The Spaniard usually fears exposing his backhand. Running around almost all potential backhands, he threw the court open for Kim to place his shots anywhere, and chose to slice whenever required, which gave Kim a lot of time and space. But time in a tennis court is one of the hardest things to kill. Most players prefer less time and Kim couldn't exploit Moya's weakness consistently. The fifth seed served very well, and came up to the net in pursuit of a quicker end to the points. The American has a decent game, but not enough big weapons to trouble higher ranked players.

Moya, on the other hand, will have to cut down on running around potential backhands, which could prove troublesome for him against tougher opponents.

"It's been a good match... better than yesterday (Tuesday). I didn't know much about him, and he surprised me a little initially. My forehand worked out very well, and I'm very happy."

Malisse advances

Earlier, Xavier Malisse survived a broken racket and Stefano Galvani to enter the quaterfinal, beating the Italian 6-3, 6-2. The match seemed to unfold in slow motion, with the long loopy rallies seemingly travelling across in different time zones. The second set saw a spread of deuce games.

Galvani took treatment for his left thigh, and the long games worked to Malisse's advantage.

Late on Tuesday, David Nalbandian could not capitalise on a first set win, and went down to Kristian Pless 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 in the first round. With tendinitis in his left knee, Nalbandian's restricted movement curbed his attempts to keep up with an inspired opponent. It was Pless's first win against a top-10 player

The results (prefix denotes seeding): Singles: 3-Xavier Malisse (Bel) bt Stefano Galvani (Ita) 6-3, 6-2; 5-Carlos Moya (Esp) bt Kevin Kim (USA) 6-4, 6-3. Doubles: Alexander Peya (Aut) & Bjorn Phau (Ger) bt James Auckland (GBR) & Sephen Huss (Aus) 3-6, 6-3, 10-8.

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