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Young World
Chennai, open to tennis
NANDITA SRIDHAR
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A quick glance at all that was on offer in the recently concluded Chennai Open.
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Photo: R. Ragu
Intensely fought: Spain’s Rafael Nadal(left), who lost the match, greets Mikhal Youzhny of Russia after the singles final.
One of the Chennai Open’s most intensely fought matches was followed by one of its most underwhelming. The nearly four-hour semifinal between Rafael Nadal and Carlos Moya took a lot out of Nadal who managed just a solitary game in the final. Russian Mikhail Youzhny was the deserving winner of the year’s first tournament. The 25-year-old Youzhny unleashed a lethal backhand through the course of the tournament, and captured his fourth ATP singles title.
Top-seed Nadal and third-seed Carlos Moya didn’t disappoint their fans. Both started well and steadily improved with each match, to make way for their semifinal showdown. The Spaniards pushed each other through the course of three sets, before Nadal sneaked home. “It was an unbelievable match, you don’t play games like these every day. I feel a bit bad for Moya who is a very good friend. It is always an emotional time when I play against Moya. We both played a good game and I am sure the Chennai crowd loved it,” said Nadal.
Memorable matches
The match more than made up for the disappointment of second seed Marcos Baghdatis’s first-round exit. A lot was expected from the stylish Cypriot. His performance in the doubles (where he made it to the final) was a consolation.
One of the more unexpected impressive performances came from 19-year-old Marin Cilic. The six-foot five-inch Croat made it to the semifinals with a solid performance. He was undone by Youzhny in the semifinals, but not before offering glimpses of his varied game.
The disheartening aspect of the tournament was the thin local presence. Prakash Amritraj had a brilliant first-round encounter against qualifier Alexandre Kudryavtsev, before it ended in a heart-breaking loss. Playing dynamic serve-and-volley tennis, Prakash earned himself three match-points, but failed to convert them. National grasscourt champion Vishnu Vardhan went out in the first round as well.
Despite the odd disappointments, the 13th edition of the Chennai Open will be remembered for the memorable clashes and the personalities. The tournament’s stature has risen rapidly over the years, and it will only be fitting that it remained in Chennai.
The country’s oldest and most prestigious tennis event deserves the nation’s most sport-loving crowd.
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