Tennis: Fish sinks Malisse in straight sets

WASHINGTON: Top-seed Mardy Fish defeated Xavier Malisse 6-3, 6-4 in a battle of veterans at the joint ATP/WTA event. “It’s good to go further than normal,” said Fish. “I’m very comfortable here and the fast court suits my game. I also appreciate the hot weather.” Fish earned the opening set after a break for 4-2, winning in 37 minutes after a somewhat nervous start. But once he had it in the bag, he loosened up and let Malisse, who admitted he might not have played at 100 percent fitness, make most of the errors. The 30-year-old began the second set with a break and finished after 80 minutes on his first match point. “I noticed that Xavier seemed injured, he didn’t move as well as usual. I tried to exploit that and it worked.”

Published in The Express Tribune, August 5^th, 2012.