Three matches, 61 aces, and Ivo Karlovic still finds himself out of the Chennai Open.
The tall Croat, whose serve, Andy Roddick said, comes from top of a tree, used his ace weapon to the hilt but sometimes looks paralysed in the middle of the court, never moving for the ball that was out of the reach of his long arms.
"Being so tall is also a disadvantage sometimes," says Karlovic. "It is difficult to move down."
His lack of movement on court was exposed by former champion Moya, as he passed the Croatian willfully to win the quarter-final 6-4, 7-6.
Since bursting on to the Grand Slam scene in 2003 with a victory over defending champion Lleyton Hewitt in the first round at Wimbledon, Karlovic generates curiosity almost everywhere he goes. But injuries have plagued his career, the most recent being his knee only three weeks before coming to Chennai.
"Injuries have set back my career. I was on the rise (in 2003) when I jumped from 90 to 48 in just five months. But then I got injured and it was difficult to come back; I wasted a lot of time because of that."
Though his piercing serves take care of the service games, his record on the return games is unimpressive. In 2006, he won 91 per cent of his service games but managed only eight per cent of the return games.
"It is enough," smiles the 27-year-old. "But I am working on that; want to improve on that. I am looking at doing well in the Grand Slams, but with (Roger) Federer around it is going to be difficult to win. For sure, I want to get back into the top-50 this season.
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Koubek at home in hot and humid India
Born in the cool climes of Austria, Stefan Koubek feels at home in hot and humid India. In the last six months, the 30-year-old from Vienna made it to two semi-finals in two tournaments in India. After beating Mario Ancic for a place in the semi-finals of the Mumbai Open, Koubek also made it to the last four at the Chennai Open on Friday, beating seeded players Paradorn Srichaphan and Julien Benneteau en route.
"I love the hot conditions in India. I am a very fit player and it helps my game," said Koubek after his 6-1, 6-2 victory over fourth seed Benneteau. He had beaten Srichaphan by an identical scoreline in the second round.
"The tournament in Mumbai changed things for me. I was playing lot of Challengers earlier, Mumbai was one of the event where I got to play in the main draw. Making to the semi-final proved so important for me; I came back to the top-100. I took a lot of confidence from that tournament and had a few good results to reach the top 80.
"It started happening much quicker than I expected."
Koubek, who decided to come to Chennai because of his good showing in Mumbai in September, will take on crowd favourite Carlos Moya in the semi-final.
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Tennis for health
Paradorn Srichaphan is still the biggest tennis star in Thailand, but Danai Udomchoke is slowly getting up there by virtue of his gold medal-winning performance at the Doha Asian Games. Udomchoke, who entered the singles at the Games looking for a bronze, beat Korea's Hyung-Taik Lee 7-5, 6-3 in the final to take the top podium and retain the medal for Thailand.
The frail Thai, who lost 2-6, 2-6 to Xavier Malisse in the first round of the Chennai Open, had an interesting initiation to tennis.
"As a child I was sick," says Udomchoke. "I had breathing problems and the doctor asked me to play some sport to keep myself healthy. I tried swimming but that did not help. When I was about eight I started going to the club with my grandmother to play tennis. I quite enjoyed it and my breathing problem was also cured by the time I was 12."
Though uncomfortable traveling alone on tour, Udomchoke has grown into the tennis routine and also entered the top-100 in November last year.
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