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Wednesday, Jan 02, 2008
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Haase sends Baghdatis packing

Nandita Sridhar

TENNIS / Rafael Nadal has it easy against Mathieu Montcourt

— Photo: R. Ragu

DOWN AND OUT: Marcos Baghdatis crashed out of the Chennai Open losing to Robin Haase on Tuesday.

Chennai: Cyprus’s Marcos Baghdatis’s shots, presumed to come off with all their brilliance, tend to let their maker down.

The second seed spent an hour and 23 minutes in pursuit of the unattainable, before surviving five match points through denial, and succumbing to Robin Haase’s sixth. The Netherlands’ Haase triumphed over the Cypriot 6-3, 6-4, in the first round of the Chennai Open ATP championship, at the Nungambakkam Stadium here, on Tuesday.

Haase, as inconspicuous as most causes of upsets are, served like a dream when it mattered. Baghdatis rarely justified his billing, except for the odd inside-out forehand fished out of nowhere and a backhand that defied his technique.

The Cypriot was broken in the first game of the match, which triggered the slide. The shots flew out, and there was very little control. Crucially, his returns were rendered ineffective.

Aggressive

The Dutchman was aggressive, attacked consistently from inside the baseline. The drop-shots were near-perfect, and deployed at the right moments.

Baghdatis’s baseline play was shaky, and his movement seemed impaired. Luckless moments played their part, but it was inconsistency that did him in. The 22-year-old had his chances when he was down 2-3 in the second, but net chords that favoured Haase and a few others that fell just short prevented him from levelling the scores.

The final game of the match, that saw six match points and four break-points, was a comic stretch of the inevitable. Haase served bombs, threw in double faults and volleyed with precision. Baghdatis, on the other hand, had one miraculous escape after the other, each one engineered by the brilliance of his touch and a bout of nerves by Haase.

The Dutchman, ranked 114, produced drops and volleys when it mattered, and left the Cypriot dejected.

“I don’t really know what happened. It’s the first match, and I haven’t had a routine for a while. I made a lot of mistakes and he served real solid. He took his chances. He had nothing to lose I guess,” said Baghdatis. “I don’t think there is a huge problem. It’s just a question of getting into rhythm,” he added.

“He’s a great player, and you tend to play well against a great player because you have to. Everyone has a chance in the beginning of the year. I was also lucky that he was out of form; but was a little surprised that he didn’t attack more,” said Haase.

Straight-set win

Top-seed Rafael Nadal of Spain saved the day of more upsets, registering a straight-set win over Frenchman Mathieu Montcourt 6-2, 6-4. The Spaniard looked set for an easy second set, when he was up 5-1. Montcourt fought hard, played some impressive shots to win three straight games, before Nadal sealed the match in his favour.

The results: Singles (first round): Robin Haase (Ned) bt Marcos Baghdatis (Cyp) 6-3, 6-4; Rafael Nadal (Esp) bt Mathieu Montcourt (Fra) 6-2, 6-4; Lovro Zovko (Cro) bt Thierry Ascione (Fra) 6-4, 6-0; Werner Eschauer (Aut) bt Bartolome Salva-Vidal 7-6(3), 5-7, 6-4; Kristof Vliegen (Bel) bt Marc Gicquel (Fra) 7-6 (5), 6-4.

Monday’s results: Singles (first round): Mikhail Youzhny (Rus) bt Jiri Vanek (Cze) 6-3, 6-2.

Doubles (first round): Yves Allegro (Sui) & Nicolas Mahut (Fra) bt Stephen Huss & David Martin (USA) 6-1, 6-2; Jaroslav Levinsky & Michal Mertinak (Svk) bt Stephen Amritraj & Prakash Amritraj (Ind) 6-2, 7-6(4).

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