Best friends Rafael Nadal and Carlos Moya will be eating home-cooked food earlier than they expected. The Mallorcans, who were tipped for the Big Sunday face-off, lost their respective semi-final matches in straight-sets at the packed SDAT Stadium here today. While top seed Nadal suffered a 4-6, 6-7 (4-7) loss at the hands of Belgian Xavier Malisse, two-time champion Moya was thrashed 3-6, 1-6 by Austrian Stefan Koubek. Nadal has looked rusty throughout the tournament and today, the two-time French Open champion failed to find his touch against a player who had until now never managed to take a set off him in the two previous occasions they met across the net. However, to give Malisse due credit, the Belgian played to a carefully worked out strategy this evening. The third seed knew he had to take a few risks and be aggressive on the court, and not allow Nadal to settle into any kind of rhythm. The maverick Belgian went for broke — he chased down every ball, missed a few here and there but on the whole was successful as he went for the lines. The strategy ultimately helped him register his first ever career victory over a player ranked as high as No 2 in the world and a place in the final of the 2007 Chennai Open. “I was very aggressive today. I played a few big forehands. I took a lot of risks. With him you have to take the short balls because if you get into rallies, you don’t stand much of a chance. You will miss a couple of balls, but eventually it will pay off. That’s the way to play him on a hard court,” explained Malisse later. Trust everyone out there on the Tour to be listening to those words. The world No 37 served tight throughout the match, especially on the big points that made the difference in the end. A point that Nadal admitted after the match. “Malisse played very well throughout. He was very aggressive today. I had my chances in the second set, and one or two in the first as well, but he served well on important points. I was doing my best, gave my 100 percent on court, but it wasn’t meant to be,” the Spaniard said. Malisse, who spent the off-season training and doing weights, has been looking in good shape here. The first set saw the Belgian break Nadal as early as in the third game of the match with a neat cross-court winner. The Spaniard had his chances to break back three games later, but Malisse managed to hold. Finally an overhead smash sealed the opening set for the Belgian. In the second set, the crowd was treated to some delightful net-play. But apart from that, there were long games punctuated with multiple deuces and it wasn’t easy for both players to hold. Malisse though came up with few big serves when the going got tough. He saved as many as six break points trailing 5-6 in the second set, before pushing it to a tie-breaker which he clinched 7-4. “The second set was close. There were a lot of good rallies and good points. I ran a lot. I was tired but with the adrenaline going, I pulled through. Against any other player you know it’s a winner, but Nadal gets the balls back. That’s why he’s the No 2 player in the world,” opined Malisse. The senior Spaniard and last year’s runner-up and world No 43 Moya followed next on Centre Court only to pocket four games against Koubek — the Austrian it seems has made a habit of creating upsets in this part of the world. In Mumbai last September, Koubek (now a lowly 80) ousted second seed Mario Ancic before losing in the semis to Tomas Berdych. And here in Chennai, he has so far accounted for fourth seed Julien Benneteau, seventh seed Paradorn Srichaphan besides fifth seed Moya. “I feel sorry for Carlos. He had no chance in the match today. Whatever I did worked,” the Austrian said post-match. Moya on his part spoke like a gracious loser. “He played a great match. He deserved to win.” Two surprise finalists will battle it out for their first title in the new season. Xavier Malisse and Stefan Koubek are both high on confidence at the moment. The morrow promises some great action.
