Moya bludgeons Kim for a place in quarters

Chennai, Jan 3 (UNI) Carlos Moya, two-time title winner here and last year's runner-up, struggled through his pre-quarter final battle but proved a shade better at the end to beat unseeded Kevin Kim of US 6-4, 6-3 to make it to the quarter-finals and keep his hopes of another title alive in the Chennai Open 2007 here today.

The fifth seeded Spaniard's centre court battle against the young Kevin, ranked 101, was the second of the three pre-quarter final matches and came after third seed Belgian Xavier Mallisse ousted Italian Stefano Galvani in straight sets 6-3, 6-2.

Moya had many an anxious moments in the match due to his inconsistent returns. Kim too suffered from a similar malaise. But Moya managed to pull out the proverbial champion stuff on the big points. In the first set, Moya and Kim were level 1-1. That was when the American started putting the pressure on Moya breaking him for a 2-1 lead. But the former world no one Moya broke back to level 2-2 on the third break point. Moya went on to win the set, breaking Kim in the tenth after leading 5-4, extricating himself from Kim's stranglehold as the American levelled 3-3 and 4-4 to keep gnawing at the Spaniard's heels.

In the second set, however, Moya turned ferocious as some of his shots proved. He was also willing to come to the net to counter Kim's volleys, which caught him on the wrong foot a couple of times in the first set. Both served up aces when they were needed.

But Moya snatched an early 4-1 lead after breaking Kim in the fourth game to be up 3-1.

The American made one last ditch attempt managing to make it 4-2 and 5-3. There was drama in the seventh game too when Moya held serve saving two break points, as the crowd kept chanting 'Moya, Moya'.

Kim, who slammed three aces in a row in the eighth game, which he held, also came close to breaking Moya in the ninth game. But thankfully for Moya, Kim hit a forehand passing shot out to give the advantage to Moya on the second break point.

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