King Carlos is third time lucky
Times of India — January 12, 2003

Chennai: On a Sunday evening when Sankranti kites filled the sky, Carlos Moya had the edge of manja in a memorable final of the ATP Tour Tata Open tennis tournament here. The top-seeded Spaniard, playing for the third time here, sharpened his game in the closing stages to beat defending champion Paradorn Srichaphan of Thailand 6-4 3-6 7-6 (5). 

A sell-out crowd of 6,000 at Nungambakkam stadium, much of which had to stand for want of seats, chanted ‘Moya, Moya’ and waved the Spanish flag when the third set went into the tie-breaker. The second-seeded Srichaphan, who had his share of supporters, started with an angled service winner and went on to construct a 5-3 lead. But he netted a forehand for 5-4 after which Moya blasted a 193 kmh serve for 5-5. 

Moya, 27, moved to matchpoint when Srichaphan pulled a forehand wide. To finish the match, which was interrupted twice when a few stray metres of manja fell on the court, Moya fired a forehand off Srichaphan’s 124 kmh second serve at the latter’s feet. 

Moya received $52,000 and 35 Champions Race points, while Srichaphan got $30,600 and 24 points. 

While the tennis was not exceptional — only four games went to deuce and most were watery 15-0 30-0 40-0 affairs — the competition between the two players was. Moya, who beat Srichaphan in their only previous meeting, in Miami last year, was determined to make up for his past two anti-climaxes here. Srichaphan was unwilling to relinquish his crown. 

"I did not play at the level I did in my earlier matches," said Moya, who served eight aces and four double-faults in the one hour, 55-minute match. "He was serving better than me. I was only trying to hold serve and take the set into a tiebreak. I waited for my chance." 

Moya admitted luck was on his side. "Not just today but in almost the entire event. I was match point down in the second round against Paul Goldstein," he said. 

Srichaphan, who served nine aces and two double-faults, said: "I lost 7-5 in the third set tiebreak, so I can’t say I did much wrong." 

Realising he was not in his best form, Moya, save for an occasional trip to the net, relied on his bazooka forehand and big serve. But there were subtle evidences of his class. Like a batsman making soft-hand placements to make things harder for a fielder, Moya cut down on power and rolled the ball across to stretch Srichaphan.