The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Moodie downs Francis

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Thursday, Nov 29, 2007
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Moodie downs Francis

Principal Correspondent

NEW DELHI: South African Wesley Moodie braved big serving American Alberto Francis in two sets that went to the distance before the seventh seed won 7-6(9), 7-6(4) to make it to the quarterfinals in the ONGC $50,000 ATP Challenger tennis tournament here on Wednesday.

Francis announced his intentions in the first game when he fired three aces after being down 0-15, as the American opened up 4-1 lead after he broke Moodie in the second game. The South African shot back in the seventh game when the American double faulted before bringing the scores at 4-4. But Francis was in no mood to give up as he charged down to the net and scored winner to break Moodie in the ninth before he lost his rhythm in the next.

In the ensuing tie-breaker, Moodie kept his cool before he found the opening to smash a down the line winner to take it 11-9.

Also moving into the quarterfinals were fourth seeded Rik de Voest of South Africa and Romania’s Adrian Cruciat, the eighth seed.

In the doubles event, the Indo-Pak pair of Rohan Bopanna and Qureshi, the second seeds, defeated Cruciat and his Spanish partner, Adrian Menendez 6-3, 7-6(6). Bopanna remained the lone Indian in the fray at this Challenger Series event.

The results:

Pre-quarterfinals: Ivo Minar (Cze) bt Sebastien de Chaunac (Fra) 6-4, 6-2; Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (Pak) bt Michail Elgin (Rus) 6-2, 4-6, 6-4; Rik de Voest (Rsa) bt Pavel Chekhov (Rus) 6-3, 7-5; Adrian Cruciat (Rou) bt Cecil Mamit (Phi) 6-4, 6-2; Martin Slaner (Aut) bt Xin-Yuan Yu (Chn) 6-3, 6-3; Dieter Kindlmann (Ger) bt Benjamin Balleret (Mon) 7-5, 7-5; Wesley Moodie (Rsa) bt Alberto Francis (USA) 7-6(9), 7-6(4).

Doubles: Quarterfinals: R. de Voest and Moodie bt Tomas Cakl (Cze) and Minar 6-2, 6-1; Chekhov and Elgin bt Yu and Shao Xuan Zeng (Chn) 6-2, 6-3; Balleret and de Chaunac bt Patrick Briaud (USA) and Mustafa Ghouse 6-3, 7-5; Rohan Bopanna and Qureshi bt Cruciat and Adrian Menendez (Esp) 6-3, 7-6(6).

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