Belgian Xavier Malisse lost more games in the semifinal against Janko Tipsarevic than he had all tournament, but come Sunday and he will have a chance to better his 11-1 Chennai Open record.
Considering the brand of tennis that is usually associated with the semifinalists, one would not have suspected that the serve was going to be as decisive a weapon as it eventually turned out to be. The first set saw Tipsarevic ace the lethargic Malisse at will and when he won the first set 6-3, as Malisse later admitted, there was little that he could do.
Of the 16 instances that Tipsarevic landed a legal first serve, he claimed the point every single time. Four of them were aces.
Even when Malisse found his feet in the second set and the tide seemed to turn, Tipsarevic served himself out of trouble. At 2-3 and 15-40 down, Tipsarevic hit an ace and three service winners in a row to appropriate the game. One thing had changed though, and by the time the set went on boil, Malisse had got his own serve going and Tipsarevic was getting increasingly erratic with his. Malisse was 100 per cent (12/12) on his first serve points won, and 90 per cent (9/10) on second return points won, which, unsurprisingly, gave him the set.
The one significant stat of the third set was Malisse's 93 per cent first serve (five of which were aces) points won, which when clubbed with his high first serve percentage (76) made him quite irresistible.
It was a game of two halves.
Foreign nationals held
Four foreign nationals were apprehended by the tournament authorities for internet betting through hand-held devices. Fernando Soller, the tournament director, said that the individuals concerned were let off with a warning, and that their photographs and passport details were circulated to tournaments across the world. The matches in question were two second round encounters — the Janko Tipsarevic-Alexandre Kudravtsev match and the Robin Haase-Yuichi Sugita contest.
The inevitable consequence of the incident was the increased frisking at the gates. After all, the internet is ubiquitous and one can't conceivably ban mobile phones, which provide easy access to betting portals, from the venue. In any case, no further incidents of court-side betting were reported.
Quote of the day
I won another tournament three weeks later but hurt my wrist and it has been misery since then. — Xavier Malisse on his career since his double here in 2007.
