Chennai Open: Malisse bags singles title

Chennai:

Third seed Xavier Malisse of Belgium halted giant killer Stefan Koubek's superb run as he outclassed the Austrian 6-1 6-3 to lift the ATP Chennai Open singles title. After shocking world number two and top seed Rafael Nadal in the semifinal, Malisse carried the same venom to thrash Koubek in the baseline duel, which turned out to be one of the shortest finals in the history of the tournament. The unseeded Koubek (ranked 80), who turned giant killer ousting seventh seed Paradorn Srichaphan, Julien Benneteau (France-fourth seed) and Spaniard Carlos Moya (Spain-fifth seed), had no answer to the repertoire of shots and all court play of 37th ranked Malisse. It was Malisse day at the centre court and the Belgian, who is also in the doubles final, has a chance to become the first player in the tournament history to claim a double. Malisse and his compatriot Dick Norman will face the Spaniard duo of Nadal and Bartolome Salve Vidal for the doubles crown.

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