The Hindu : David Nalbandian knocks out Moya

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Apr 15, 2002

Sport

Sport - Tennis

David Nalbandian knocks out Moya

Estoril April 14. A five-year run of Spanish domination came to an end as Argentine David Nalbandian knocked out third seed Carlos Moya 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 in the semifinals of the $655,000 Estoril Open tennis tournament.

For the past five years, Spain had lifted the title at the Estadio Nacional.

Moya, the last of 10 countrymen who began the week, was unable to cope with the game of his 20-year-old opponent in windy conditions as his eight-match unbeaten run on clay came to an end yesterday.

The final will now comprise a battle of two outsiders as Nalbandian will play in his first ATP final against Flying Finn Jarkko Nieminen, who ousted Marat Safin on Friday and who yesterday moved past Brazilian veteran Fernando Meligeni 7-5, 6-1.

Former French Open champion Moya lost serve to start the third set and could never catch up. ``The wind was the same for both of us. I can't blame it for the defeat,'' said the 26-year-old former No. 1. ``He adapted better than I did and played better. I know we won't have a Spanish winner. But South Americans are close to Spanish, so I hope one wins the tournament,'' said Moya, champion here two years ago.

Nieminen, the man from ice hockey country, meanwhile noted that his exploit in beating Safin in the quarterfinal on Friday made the lead item on Finnish news in the middle of national hockey playoffs.

``I have nothing bad to say about Portugal,'' said the youngster, who won a Challenger title here last autumn before making a breakthrough into the final of the Stockholm Open.

``The wind didn't bother me - maybe I need to try windsurfing now!''

The Finn dropped serve in the ninth game of the first set against Meligeni but got it straight back and then finally claimed the set on his sixth chance.

``It's pretty irritating to need that many chances,'' he said. ``I knew that it would be important to break in the second, and I did.

``I'm very surprised to be in the final, it was a close match today, the same yesterday. I know David from juniors, where he beat me the only time we played.

In the women's final, Spanish fourth seed Magui Serna will face Germany's Anca Barca after both knocked out young Russians.

Serna, a finalist last week in Porto and playing her third final in Portugal, defeated Elena Bovina 6-3, 6-3, while Barca ended the dream run of Dinara Safina, sister of Marat Safin, 7-6 (8-6), 6-4 as the 15-year-old from Moscow played for the first time in a main draw.

Mahesh-Mirnyi pair loses

The top-seeded Mahesh Bhupathi and Max Mirnyi of Belarus lost 6-1, 6-7 (5-7), (8-10) to Karsten Braasch of Germany and Andrei Olhovskiy of Russia in the doubles semifinals of the $625,000 Estoril Open.

The results:

Men's singles (semifinals): David Nalbandian bt Carlos Moya 6-4, 5-7, 6-4; Jarkko Nieminen bt Fernando Meligeni 7-5, 6-1.

Women's singles (semifinals): Magui Serna bt Elena Bovina 6-3, 6-3; Anca Barca bt Dinara Safina 7-6 (8-6), 6-4.

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