By Anand Philar, IANS
Chennai : Third seed Carlos Moya of Spain Friday scored a convincing 6-3, 6-4 win over Frenchman Florent Serra to enter the semi-finals of the $436,000 ATP Chennai Open tennis tournament here.
On a gloomy evening with threatening rain clouds hanging overhead, Moya, ranked No.17, made the best of Serra’s stream of unforced errors and won in a canter in 73 minutes.
Moya awaits the winner of the all-Spanish clash between top seed Rafael Nadal and Guillermo Garcia Lopez.
Ironically, the 26-year-old Serra, who had a career-best ranking of 32 in 2006, blasted more winners than Moya, the former World No.1 and French Open champion. The difference between the two was Serra’s unforced errors.
When on a roll, Serra looked the better player as he blazed away with some great winners that often wrong-footed Moya who at 31, is the oldest survivor in the draw.
Moya had eight aces to none by Serra who, however, had more winners, 23 to 20, but spoilt the record with 25 unforced errors as against just 10 by his opponent.
The Spaniard, who won back-to-back titles here in 2004 and 2005, was at best steady if not spectacular, bringing into play his vast experience to extricate himself from tight spots that were few and far in between.
Moya’s superior serve also had an impact on his progress. Serra was often unable to read the serves that had the angles if not power. In fact, Moya did not face a single breakpoint in the entire match.
In contrast, Serra struggled to hold serve with Moya always on the lookout for an easy kill. Consequently, Serra’s frustration at his own game that was slowly being dismantled further aggravated his situation.
Moya was off to a solid start with an early break of serve to put Serra under pressure. The Frenchman nearly dropped serve a second time in the eighth game that went to five Deuces with Moya blowing three setpoints.
However, Moya went on to serve out the set, finishing with a brilliant inside-out forehand crosscourt with Serra running the wrong way.
The trend was much the same in the second set as Moya broke in the very first game and then nursed the crucial lead to close out the set with his eighth ace of the match. That was preceded by spells of heavy rains through the day.
After the match, Moya admitted that he profited from Serra’s unforced errors. “I played solid tennis overall and since he was not playing that well, I was quite relaxed,” he said.
About his serves, Moya said: “I served quite well tonight and did not have any breakpoints against me. The crucial part was when I broke Serra early in both the sets and that made a huge difference in the end.”