Age finally caught up with two-time winner Carlos Moya as his tenure at the 2009 Chennai Open ended with a straight-set defeat against Serbian Janko Tipsarevic at the SDAT Stadium here on Monday. All the chanting in the stands could not save Moya on a day when his backhand let him down badly.
The first break came in the sixth game when, serving at 2-3, Moya double-faulted to go 15-30 down. A backhand down the line on-the-run gave Tipsarevic two break points. Moya pulled back a point but a weak second serve at 30-40 met with another sizzling backhand. Up 4-2, Tipsarevic put the ball in all the right places — usually to Moya’s backhand — to win the first set 6-3.
Clawing back but…
The Serbian broke Moya again in the third game of the second set, but the Spaniard clawed back to 4-4 and held on to enforce a tie-break, which was a forgettable one for him. The 33-year-old won just two points, going down to a big round of applause as his final shot sailed beyond the baseline.
Addressing the audience after the match, Moya said, “You have given me more than I can ever give back. There is no better place for me to come back.”
Earlier, second seed Marin Cilic hit cruise control in his opening encounter against Russian Igor Kunitsyn, beginning his title defence with a 6-2, 6-4 victory.
The Croatian’s serve as well as his forehand looked in ship shape as he broke Kunitsyn in the third and fifth games of the first set. Consecutive aces, one of which was directed wide of the Kunitsyn forehand, put Cilic a set up.
The defending champion took his form into the second set, breaking Kunitsyn in the opening game.
Though the Russian elevated his game marginally and hung on to his service thereafter, the solitary break of serve was all Cilic required to come through in straight sets.
Pleased at having started his campaign with a breezy win, Cilic later said the most gratifying aspect of the result was the manner in which he had served.
“It was important for me to start well. My serve worked well. That Kunitsyn wasn’t able to construct a single break point against me indicates that I was on top of my game. The early break in the second set helped me take control of the match,” he said.
Bouncing back
In other action, Jan Hajek of the Czech Republic recorded the first upset of the tournament when he beat sixth seed Simon Greul.
Hajek rallied from a set down to put it across his German opponent, winning the last two sets 6-2, 6-4. Lucky qualifier Bjorn Phau’s stars turned their back on him as he exited in the first round itself. Phau was sent packing in three sets by Colombian Santiago Giraldo.
Phau managed to wrest a hotly-contested tie-break in the middle, but went down tamely in the decider.
The results: First round: Marin Cilic (Cro) bt Igor Kunitsyn (Rus) 6-2, 6-4; Jan Hajek (Cze) bt Simon Greul (Ger) 3-6, 6-2, 6-4; Santiago Giraldo (Col) bt Bjorn Phau (Ger) 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-3, Janko Tipsarevic (Srb) bt Carlos Moya (Esp) 6-3, 7-6 (2).
