Srichaphan bows out

Vliegen, who knocked off No. 6 Rainer Schuttler the day before, accounted for the fourth-seeded Thai 6-1, 6-2. For Vliegen it was revenge, but for Srichaphan it surely meant an introspection.

Statistically, Srichaphan was in poor light: just 14 of the 30 points won on his serve. Vliegen who lost just one, courtesy a double-fault in the second game of the first set. While Vliegen talked of “knowing that his opponent looked shaky at the start,” third game onwards it was Vliegen all the way.

While, Srichaphan made the mistakes, Vliegen did the next best thing: return and wait for the Thai to do things. Importantly, while Vliegen realized that Srichaphan had played a long late match the day before, Srichaphan’s body language on court was a mix of fatigue and confusion.

Then top-seeded Croat Ivan Ljubicic took under an hour to beat Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller 6-1, 6-3. That was least expected, considering the way he played yesterday against Rohan Bopanna.

Ljubicic now plays Vliegen. One he feels is a “hot player to watch.”

Minor Indian cheer

Indian’s did have some cheer, as Prakash Amritraj and Rohan Bopanna made it to the semis after Srichaphan pulled out due to injury to his left-leg. This was surprising because at the press conference Srichaphan, when asked, denied that he had any injury.