Another day in the office for Stoliorov

By Nirmal Shekar

CHENNAI, JAN. 6. Andrei Stoliorov works at tennis. To the 23-year- old Russian it's a job just like any other with the tennis court as his office. And watching him work at tennis, you tend to believe his attitude would be no different had he found himself working in an office block in downtown Moscow.

One must say, things were pretty chaotic - and the odds of getting the job done in time pretty formidable - in the office for Stoliorov on Saturday in the Gold Flake Open tournament.

Not only was a flamboyant young Spaniard, Tommy Robredo, standing across the net from the Russian, and a man who was his opposite in many ways, firing away like a kid with a newly gifted toy-gun but also the visitors to Stoliorov's office - the audience - did everything possible to back the Russian's rival at the workplace.

Then again, the problem is, the cute teenaged Spaniard plays tennis, he doesn't work at it. And, this is a sport where, ironically enough, more often than not work is rewarded and play - which always has an element of risk to it - penalised.

And so it turned out to be as Stoliorov meticulously got the job done, cleared the table in time and marched into his first ATP Tour final with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 defeat of Robredo.

As he left the court, for all the emotions (?) that Stoliorov showed, he could very well have been coming out of a Moscow office block in a hurry to catch the 6 p.m. train at the nearest subway station.

In the match itself, Robredo was playing Russian roulette, time and again, and Stoliorov was working the Russian roulette - which, of course, means he had the last laugh.

But, for the patient worker from Sochi, this week's assignment is not complete yet. He has a job on his hands again on Sunday when he takes on Michal Tabara of the Czech Republic in the final.

Tabara, to be sure, did not have to work as hard as the Russian to get where the finds himself, also for the first time. His opponent, Kristian Pless of Denmark, pulled out halfway in the fifth game of the first set because of tendinitis in his right arm.

Tabara was leading 4-0 and Pless was serving 30-15 when the Dane called it quits.

``This is the best moment of my career. I am looking forward to the final,'' said Tabara. And the feeling was no different for Stoliorov.

The way Robredo got off the blocks - and with all the support from the stands - it appeared that the flashy Spaniard with a huge forehand and a backhand that is mostly a liability would carry the day.

After trading breaks once, Robredo broke through on three groundstroke errors from Stoliorov in the ninth game before serving out the set.

The turnaround for the Russian came in the sixth game of the second set when he broke to 4-2. And by the time Stoliorov closed out the second set, Robredo was running out of steam. The players broke each other in the first two games of the decider but the crucial break came in the third game for the Russian who charged ahead and never looked back.

After the third game Robredo required on-court treatment for cramps but nothing could be done to stop the man from Sochi from keeping his date with destiny.

In the first semifinal, Pless was distinctly unlucky. The bad luck story for the 19-year-old former World junior champion began on Friday night itself, as it were.

After his quarterfinal victory, Pless felt pain in his serving shoulder but did not think it was anything serious at all. Probably, the lanky young man from Odense said his prayers and went to bed hoping everything would be just fine at dawn.

As it turned out, Pless woke up to find out that it had gotten worse. While there was a question mark in his mind as to whether he'd be able to play at all, particularly after a brief practice session where the pain seemed acute, the Dane boldly marched out on court.

``This is a semifinal. I had to give it a try. But, in the very first game itself I knew it was going to be tough. Then, a few games later I realised it was impossible,'' said Pless who took injury time out after the third game.

The ATP Tour trainer Juan Reque of Spain spent time with Pless, giving him a rub, and the Dane went on to play another full game and a half before shaking his head in dismay and walking up to the net to tell the chair umpire that he was packing it in.

For Tabara, it was an easy day at the office en route to his first ever ATP Tour final. But he wasn't really ecstatic.

``I am lucky. Pless is a good player and he has been playing well,'' said the Czech. ``But this is not the way I would have wanted to reach the final.''

Earlier, in the opening match of the day on the centre court, Zimbabwe's Black brothers, Byron and Wayne, were pretty impressive as they raced past the Czechs Frantisek Cermak and Ota Fukarek 6-3, 6-4 to secure a place in Sunday's doubles final.

In warm conditions, the Black brothers were right on top as they broke Fukarek's serve in the eighth game of the first set which Byron served out in the ninth.

The Czechs made a strong comeback attempt early in the second set as they broke Wayne's serve in the fourth game for a 3-1 lead but the Zimbabwean brothers broke Cermak's serve twice to post a straightforward victory.

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