By Anand Philar, IANS
Chennai : Defending champion Xavier Malisse made mockery of rankings and scored a crushing 7-6 (3), 6-2 win against sixth seed Jurgen Melzer to set up an intriguing quarterfinal contest with fourth seed Mikhail Youzhny in the $436,000 ATP Chennai Open tennis tournament here Wednesday night.
Earlier, the 25-year-old Russian, Youzhny, struggled to an unimpressive 7-5, 1-6, 6-2 win over Edouard Roger-Vasselin (France) en route to the quarterfinals.
Also through to the round of eight was Florent Serra (France) who beat Kristof Vliegen (Belgium) 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (1), on the outside court. Serra next meets third seed Carlos Moya, winner here in 2004 and 2005.
The former World No.1 and French Open champion Moya, 31, stayed on court longer than expected while defeating qualifier Alexandre Kudryavtsev (Russia) 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-2.
After a rather wayward first set, Malisse, the 27-year old Belgian who last year achieved a rare double here, was in full flow in the second, giving the Austrian no opportunity to get back into the match that lasted 93 minutes.
Malisse, unheralded in view of his ranking of 112, was undoubtedly the superior player as the 6th ranked, 26-year old Melzer who simply ran out of steam after losing the first set tiebreak.
“I am very happy today. My serves were good, didn’t face any breakpoints and played far more aggressively than I did in my first round match. My game plan tonight was to hit more shots and Melzer made a few mistakes. I guess, that made the difference,” said Malisse who missed most of the 2007 season owing to wrist and knee injuries.
Malisse, who achieved his career-best ranking of 19 in 2002, felt that a series of injuries had prevented him from achieving his goal of making it to top 10.
“I was upset that just when I was getting to the top of my career I had to suffer injuries. It was very frustrating, but I guess, it has made me mentally stronger,” he said.
Youzhny, the 19th ranked Russian, played an up-and-down game that oscillated between mediocrity and brilliance. However, he got his act together not a moment soon and had something to spare at the wire.
The Russian trailed 0-5 in the first set, but won seven games in a row, dropping just three points in the last five games. But, quite inexplicably, he turned error-prone in the second set, twice dropping his serve before picking himself up in the final set.
In the deciding third set, Youzhny was seen at his best as he drilled winners that were a mixture of sheer power and delicate touch at the net. Service breaks in the second and eighth games helped him past the finish line.
On the other hand, Roger-Vasselin, No.97 on the ATP computer, had his chances, but caved in under pressure to lose the first set despite a substantial lead.
The decisive moment came in the seventh game when Roger-Vasselin double faulted besides indulging in long rallies that only helped Youzhny to get back into the match. A net-chord return also went against the Frenchman as Youzhny’s game gained in stature.
In the second, the 24-year old Frenchman played a near flawless game even as Youzhny faded with a series of unforced errors. Roger-Vasselin broke his opponent in the fourth and sixth games to even the set scores.
But into the third set, Roger-Vasselin had very little to offer and he played into his opponent’s hand, muffing sitters and repeatedly getting passed at the net.
Youzhny admitted that he played way below his best. He said he was a bit rusty after a December layoff. “My game was too much up-and-down, but hopefully, I will play better in the next match,” he said.
Looking back on the first set, he opined that he struggled to get into his rhythm. “I was not fast enough in my movements, but at 0-5, I suddenly regained my form and played well. But in the second, I just could not lift my game and I was rather inconsistent. I am happy that my game came together in the third set,” he said.
In doubles action, Marin Cilic (Croatia) and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi (Pakistan) defeated India’s wild card entry Mustafa Ghouse and Karan Rastogi 6-4, 7-6 (1) to enter the quarterfinals.
Meanwhile, Harel Levy (Israel) and Rajeev Ram of US eliminated fourth seeds Tomas Cibulec (Czechoslovakia) and Lovro Zovko (Croatia) 6-3, 4-6, 12-10, to enter the quarterfinals of the doubles competition.