It was a dream week for third seed Xavier Malisse of Belgium as he won both the singles and doubles titles at the Chennai Open.
CHENNAI: The singles final between third seed Xavier Malisse and unseeded Stefan Koubek was just the kind of contest that tournament organisers fear. Koubek was ecstatic at the sublime game he enacted in his straight set win against Carlos Moya in the semifinal on Saturday. But he did seem to have peaked far too early. Against Malisse he managed to win just 35 of the 94 points played out and was broken five times. It was a mis-match of crowd boring proportion.
The first set lasted a mere 25 minutes and it was apparent that Koubek was nowhere near being a match to the conqueror of Rafael Nadal. A 6-1, 6-3 verdict elicited $65850 for Malisse as the Belgian grabbed his second career title while maintaining his unbeaten streak against Koubek.
The singles was anyway not what the fans came for. The stadium was nowhere near capacity till the doubles featuring Nadal in the company of childhood friend Bartolome Salva-Vidal took centre court. Then the aisles were bursting at the limits. In the end charm alone refused to prop up suspect skills at the net as Xavier Malisse made it a dream week taking the doubles crown in tandem with Dick Norman winning 7-6 (4), 7-6 (4) in a match that featured no break of serve.
There is a certain magnetism to Nadal. He mesmerises crowds and when out there he brings the arena alive with his energy. Those in the press box get to see the charm first hand as Nadal responds to queries with an abandon and accommodation that is seldom the norm for the famous. The same abandon was apparent at the prize distribution when he looked to douse buddy Vidal with the celebratory champagne. For the Spaniards the celebration was fitting as it is Vidal’s first ATP doubles final with the last appearance of the duo way back in 2002 seeing them ousted in the first round.
Nadal who has three doubles titles had no business playing with Vidal who does not even figure on the rankings list as he has no points. But then what are friends for? Nadal got him a wildcard in this event and then took him along all the way to the final. Perhaps that very humane touch is what makes this man so easy to embrace.
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