The Hindu : Sport : An easy opener for Rafael Nadal

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An easy opener for Rafael Nadal

Sports Reporter

Marcos Baghdatis will face 114th-ranked Haase

Don’t write off Moya, says Vijay Amritraj
Four Indians advance to second round of qualifying

— Photo: R. Ragu

THE FAVOURITE: Rafael Nadal, the top seed at the Chennai Open seen practising on Saturday evening, will face the 123rd ranked Mathieu Montcourt in his opening round match.

Chennai: Draws, with their chronic streaks of sadism, tend to scoff at predictions; but things were less alarming at the ceremony on Saturday. Rafael Nadal will face Mathieu Montcourt (ranked 123) in his first round match.

The Spaniard might have done no better if he’d picked the year’s first opponent himself.

Second seed Marcos Baghdatis faces the 114th ranked Robin Haase of The Netherlands, who managed a set against the Cypriot at Monte Carlo this year. The remaining two seeds of interest — Carlos Moya and Mikhail Youzhny — are up against tricky, if not dangerous opponents. Moya will face Teimuraz Gabashvili, while the Russian Youzhny will play Chennai regular Jiri Vanek.

“This is the year’s first tournament, so nobody knows how far a player can go. Rafa (Nadal) looks like he is the favourite, but we’ll see how it goes next week,” said fourth seed Youzhny. “It will be very tough against everybody, every match will be like a new life,” he added. The Russian had his first win against a top player in 2001, when he beat Argentine Franco Squillari here in the first round.

Prakash to face qualifier

Indian wildcard Prakash Amritraj will play a qualifier in his first round match. “There are a lot of strong qualifiers playing, so we never know who might be up against him,” said Vijay Amritraj.

He also added that the Indian wildcards (Prakash and Vishnu Vardhan) would have to play high-quality tennis to do well in the first round.

Vishnu Vardhan was drawn against France’s Edouard Roger-Vasselin for his first round match. A win for Prakash could earn him a second round match with Moya.

Defending champion Xavier Malisse, coming out of a downward spiral in 2007, will face Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller upfront. Spared of a top or a bottom heavy draw, the Chennai Open faces stability in the first round before dangerous floaters pose threats.

Steadiness

Spaniard Guillermo-Garcia Lopez’s lethal forehand could earn him a shot at Nadal.

The other names in the draw make up for a lack of familiarity with steadiness. Courts across the world have slowed down considerably, with balls getting heavier as well.

Players strong from the back of the court will find solace from the surface.

“Nadal and Baghdatis will be the favourites, but never write off Moya in Chennai,” said Amritraj. When all other big names have gone bust in the past, Moya’s consistency has been comforting. He had an interesting 2007, with one title and two final appearances. A 42-23 record this year sets him up well for the tournament, not that he needs that cushion to switch on in Chennai.

Meanwhile, Mustafa Ghouse, Karan Rastogi, Kamala Kannan and Stephen Amritraj were the Indians who advanced to the second qualifying round on Saturday.

The results (first round, qualifying, Indians unless otherwise specified):

Igor Kunitsyn (Rus) bt Sriram Balaji 6-2, 6-3; Mustafa Ghouse bt Ajai Selvaraj 6-1, 6-3; Karan Rastogi bt Divij Sharan 7-5, 4-6, 6-4; Alexandre Kudryavtsev (Rus) bt Akash Wagh 6-2, 6-0; Kristian Pless (Den) bt Vivek Shokeen 6-3, 6-4; Sonchat Ratiwatana (Tha) bt Vignesh Chandra Sekar 7-6(6), 6-1; Lovro Zovko (Cro) bt Sunil Kumar Sipaeya 7-6(1), 6-3; Denis Matsukevitch (Rus) bt Michael Ryderstedt (Swe) 6-4, 7-5; Harel Levy (Isr) bt Jaroslav Levinsky (Cze) 6-1, 6-1; Kamala Kannan bt Yuki Bhambri 7-5, 6-4; Michal Mertinak (Svk) bt Vijay Kannan (Ind) 6-1, 6-4; Rajeev Ram (USA) bt Karunuday Singh 6-1, 6-2; Stefano Galvani (Ita) bt Harsh Mankad 6-1, 6-1; Stephen Amritraj bt Tushar Liberhan 6-4, 3-6, 6-3; David Martin (USA) bt Ranjeet Virali Murugesan 6-3, 6-0; Alexander Peya (Aut) bt Jim Thomas (USA) 6-3, 6-2.

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