Defending champion Carlos Moya of Spain played the game of his career to snatch a win from the jaws of defeat beating Thai star Paradorn Srichaphan 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) in the final of the ATP Tour Chennai Open tennis championship on Sunday.
In a repeat final of last year, Moya quelled the challenge of Srichaphan, who was playing his fourth successive final in Chennai, in two hours and 35 minutes before a 6000-strong crowd that had thronged the Nungambakkam tennis stadium.
For Moya who won his 18th career title on Sunday, since turning a pro in 1995, this was his second back-to-back career title. His earlier best was winning the tour titles in Umag in 2001, 2002, 2003.
Moya also broke the jinx of defending champions not retaining the title.
Mikael Tillstrom (Sweden), winner in the inaugural year in 1997, lost to Patrick Rafter (Australia) in the 1998 final while Srichaphan, winner in 2003, had lost to Moya last year.
Srichaphan, the crowd favourite to win the championship, showed grit and determination but surrendered the initiative in the third set (5-2) losing the title to top seed Moya for second time in a row.
Moya came back from the jaws of defeat halting Srichaphan at his service game for the championship and he thrived points earned by winning four games in a row.
In the tiebreaker of the decider, Srichaphan had to make his way back from 2-4 to 4-6 and then he came up with a superb backhand winner.
Returning about three feet away from the baseline, Moya's misjudgment of leaving the ball thinking it was going long helped Srichaphan the point (5-6) but Moya succeeded in serving for the match with a long ball from the Thai.
Srichaphan's abilities to take stock of the situation and the mental makeup of his rival well within the first five game turned the tide in his favour. The Thai, ranked 27, as against Moya's 5, raised his game a few notches up and held the advantage right from Moya's fourth game.
In fact, Moya, looking for his back-to-back title, was under tremendous pressure against Srichaphan's all court play but was agile for retrievals with excellent court coverage.
The dice was not in Moya's favour as he was found wanting right from the fourth game, where Srichaphan had the first opportunity for a vital break. Moya held his serves in the fourth and sixth games but could not deny Srichaphan a crucial break giving him 5-3 lead.
The sixth game, perhaps the longest in the match, was replete of rallies and Moya, who trailed 0-15 and then 30-40, was not able to play up front for winners, while the Thai enjoyed a great leeway to drive in for a back hand volley and then stayed put to take the vacant spot in front from close to the net. Finally, Srichaphan claimed the set with two set
points.
In the second set, Moya adjusted to the need of the hour coming up with superior play whenever the chips were down, despite being broken in the first game on three break points.
While Srichaphan continued to win his games without much ado, Moya had to labour for his service games and he waited like a hawk for a prey and cashed in on the first of the opportunity.
In the fourth game, the Thai led 40-0 when Moya came up with an unbelievable forehand winner and then forced Srichaphan to err on three occasions on his backhand for neutralising the game score (2-2).