Belgian Malisse stuns Nadal in biggest upset

Chennai, Jan 6: In the biggest upset in the championship this year, 26-year-old Belgian Xavier Malisse stunned the top seed and World No 2 Rafael Nadal 6-4 7-6 (4) in the semi finals and entered his first ATP tour open final in the New Year in the Chennai Open 2007 here today.

Third-seeded Malisse, tipped as the dark horse when the curtains went up on this year's edition, matched Nadal stroke for stroke be it top spin, passing shots or volleys, especially the first set in which he broke Nadal in the third game.

''Today I played and did everything right. I fired aces and played lot of good volleys. You can't win unless you play your best against him,'' Malisse said after the match. Once again the centre court crowd, which was rooting wildly for Nadal, was forced to applaud Malisse, who rose to the occasion slamming down aces to win the big points, while Nadal succumbed, losing the big points with tame returns.

Nadal could have drawn level on set score as he was ahead by a game till 6-5 but he muffed as many as three set point in game ten and two in the 12th game. That did him in.

Malisse said about countering Nadal's long deep shots that he had a 'short ball' as his main weapon. ''I tried to keep my shots short.'' ''I played well in the French Open against him. But he won,'' Malisse, who lost both his matches against Nadal in his career so far, said.

In the tie break, Malisse was up 2-0 and 3-2 but Nadal drew level 3-3. But Malisse slammed down an ace and had Nadal hitting a passing shot out returning his serve. Up 5-4, he was under pressure as Nadal drew level, hitting a return out. At 4-4, the pressure told on Nadal as he played a listless overhead volley out and another passing shot out as Malisse was on match point at 6-4.

Nadal had a big battle on his hands in the second set, perhaps one of the biggest in his illustrious career so far. Many long rallies in both sets was ample proof of this.

The 20-year-old spaniard was clearly not plaing his aggressive best. Mallisse's break in the third game ultimately won him the first set, which he took after being up 5-4, as Nadal, trying to impart more spin and pace into his drives ended up seeing his shots falling out.

In the second, however, Nadal seemed to be finding his touch. He managed to hold serve and led 5-4 as Malisse also felt the pressure and struggled to get his first serves in as he committed unforced errors.

Up 5-4, Nadal could have closed out the set and put himself back in the match while being up 5-4 but in the sixth game Malisse, down 0-30, and 15-40, went on to save three set points as Nadal returned poorly again.

The match turned his way decisively as he held serve to level 5-5 although Nadal held serve in the 11th and he himself returned the compliment holding serve 6-6 in the 12th as Nadal dropped his fourth and fifth setpoint.

UNI