The Hindu : Sport : Malisse puts out Nadal, makes final

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Sunday, Jan 07, 2007
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Malisse puts out Nadal, makes final

Nandita Sridhar

PRIZE SCALP: Xavier Malisse upset Rafael Nadal in the semifinals. — Photo: S.R. Raghunathan

Chennai: The hardest thing about trying to beat Rafael Nadal is disturbing his mind. The Spaniard has an almost ritualistic approach to the time he spends on a tennis court. He gulps down liquid from four different bottles, ties and unties his shoe-laces even when not required, gives those socks a tweak, before he's ready. His reasons might border on the superstitious, but the repetitive consistency of rituals tends to calm the mind, when everything around is going wrong.

Same energy, but...

Nadal approaches every shot with the same energy and intensity, irrespective of the scoreline. Unfortunately for him, so did Xavier Malisse. He showed signs of tiring in the second set, but was inspired enough to beat the top seed 6-4, 7-6(4) in the semifinals of the Chennai Open, at the Nungambakkam Stadium, on Saturday.

Malisse had no statistical advantage on his side, having lost to Nadal twice on clay. But that was only till he stepped on court. The Belgian broke Nadal in the third game itself, flattening his opponent's top-spinners with a whiplash of a forehand, and remained in complete control of all the rallies.

Nadal's routine method of destruction involves grinding his way through the points, with serial hits deep into the court, and an eventual heave that gives him the point. Malisse negated Nadal's strengths with some hard hitting, forcing Nadal into sending the ball shorter than usual. When the situation demanded, he rushed towards the net, volleying better than in his earlier matches.

Slicing errors

"I tried to play aggressively, and I served very well," said Malisse. Serve well he did. He saved six set points in the second set with effective and accurate serving. The second set, one of the best seen in the tournament, went the distance.

Nadal was a little more comfortable with his game, sending the ball in deep, luring Malisse into making a few slicing errors.

The fighter that he is, Nadal didn't give an inch throughout the match. When pushed into rallies, which he couldn't control, he used the drop-shot to change the pattern and tried his best to mix things up.

Malisse broke Nadal with a brilliant winner down the line to go up 3-1 in the tie-break. Nadal broke back to make it 3-3, but the Belgian served incredibly thereafter. A flying return by Nadal, signalled the end of the match.

"I had my chances in the second set, but he served very well. I wasn't feeling my best, but I gave my 100 per cent. He was just playing very good," said Nadal.

Disappointed

"I am disappointed. I wanted to play the final and win the tournament," he added.

Feeding off crowd support might have helped Carlos Moya against other lower-ranked players, but against Stefan Koubek (ranked 80), the fifth seed was completely overpowered in the semifinal match. Koubek prevailed 6-3, 6-1, in possibly one of Moya's least noteworthy performance in the tournament.

With a great deal of momentum going his way, Koubek's shots, helped by his `leftiness', came through well. His seemingly awkward looking backhand troubled Moya into committing errors.

Despite a lesser first serve percentage, Koubek had more winners off his first serves. With four double faults in the match, Moya's service games weren't easy for him, saving just seven out of 11 break points.

"I feel sorry for Carlos. Everything I did just worked out, I just couldn't make mistakes," said Koubek. "He deserved to win. He played very well," said Moya.

Nadal entered the doubles final, partnering Bartolome Salva-Vidal, after the Spanish duo beat fourth seeds Alexander Peya and Bjorn Phau 7-5, 6-1.

The results:

Singles (semifinals): 3-Xavier Malisse bt 1-Rafael Nadal 6-4, 7-6(4); Stefan Koubek (Aut) bt 5-Carlos Moya (Esp) 6-3, 6-1.

Doubles (semifinals): Nadal-Bartolome Salva-Vidal (Esp) bt 4-Alexander Peya (Aut)-Bjorn Phau (Ger) 7-5, 6-1.

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