Article tennischanel 05-01-07

Malisse beats Santoro, will meet Nadal in semifinal

1/5/2007 11:08:00 AM

CHENNAI, India (AP) -Third-seeded Xavier Malisse of Belgium overcame a jittery second set to defeat Fabrice Santoro 6-4, 4-6, 6-0 Friday and set up a semifinal match against Rafael Nadal at the Chennai Open.

Nadal, ranked No. 2, beat Davide Sanguinetti 6-3, 6-2 in another quarterfinal match.

Two-time winner and fifth-seeded Carlos Moya clinched five straight tiebreaker points to overcome big-serving Ivo Karlovic 6-4, 7-6 (6).

Malisse said he was looking forward to playing Nadal on the hardcourt surface. Nadal has not won a title since his triumph in the French Open last year.

``I played six tournaments after the France Open. You can't win them all, but I think I did quite well,'' Nadal said.

After the Grand Slam triumph in Paris, Nadal went on to reach the final at Wimbledon, the quarterfinals in the U.S. Open and the semifinals in the Masters Cup.

``I've only played him once and lost,'' said Malisse, ranked 37th. ``That was on clay and everybody loses of Nadal on clay, but it should be a good match on the hard surface here.''

Malisse said his match against the 52nd-ranked Santoro, who begins his 19th year on the ATP Tour, was his best so far.

``Everyone will be looking at the few errors, but they occurred because I played more aggressively,'' he said.

Santoro was presented a plaque for his sportsmanship by former Indian Davis Cup captain Vijay Amritraj.

``For me tennis isn't about winning, but for presenting a good image of yourself and your country to the world,'' Santoro said. ``I think I've still got a lot of tennis in me.''

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