Mikhail Youzhny in action in Chennai on Wednesday

Chennai: The customary military salute did come in the end to cheer up the biased crowd, but had it not been for an inexplicable drop in form on the part of his opponent, Mikhail Youzhny’s singles campaign would have been over in the Chennai Open second round itself.

But as it happens, the No.4 seed survived a scare on Wednesday to emerge 7-5, 1-6, 6-2 winner against Edouard Roger-Vasselin and move into the quarter finals of the ATP season opener.

Next up for Youzhny would be Xavier Malisse, who looked close to his early 2007 form in his 7-6 (7-3), 6-2 win over Jurgen Melzer of Austria.

The defending champion, who captured two of his first three titles last year, slammed 8 aces and clocked 56 per cent points in a match he later termed he was “quite happy with”.

“I am very happy with the way I played today,” said the Belgian, who defeated Gilles Muller in straight sets in Round I.

“I was purposely less aggressive in my last outing… That being the first match after a long injury break. But I am happy with the way my forehand is shaping up… I didn’t miss too many today.”

Carlos Moya, meanwhile, set up a quarter final clash against Florent Serra of France, the No.3 seed winning a energy-sapping three setter against Russian qualifier Alexandre Kudryavtsev 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 6-2 in a late night match on Wednesday.

Serra of France reached the quarters with a 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (7-3) win over Kristof Vliegen.

The Youzhny match was a strange one. The vocal few at the stadium had just been settling down in a mellow evening when, much to their disbelief, the world No. 97 from France started playing near flawless tennis and won five straight games in a row to make it 5-0.

The unknown Frenchman, with 6-9 (win-loss) overall record, picked up the tempo in a fashion that the seasoned Russian found hard to match. He was doing nearly everything right.

His self-assurance was impressive and besides serving well, his backhand started talking. Before anyone realised what was happening, Roger-Vasselin had broken Youzhny’s first service game, held his own and with the tenacity of a Jim Courier, kept at it.

If the Russian expected to slowly build the rhythm, he was being denied any breathing space.

A clean backhand winner whistled past him as the world No.19 was left searching for answers.

It wasn’t as if Youzhny didn’t try, but Roger-Vasselin was reading his game exceedingly well. From 0-40 down in the fourth game of the first set, Youzhny made it deuce only to see himself a double break down.

Well… If ever anything is termed from sublime to the ridiculous, it has to be the way Roger-Vasselin played.

5-0 up and within sniffing distance of the first set, he suffered a nervous breakdown and failed to earn a single point in the next five games. 5-5. Match on.

Aided by some old-fashioned Russian defiance and the inexperience of a rookie, Youzhny suddenly seemed a man transformed.

His famed backhand made an appearance and egged on by the partisan crowd, Youzhny won seven games at a stretch to pocket the first set 7-5.

The Russian world No.19 was in cracking form in 2007. The last season was easily one of his best and besides reaching the top 10 for the first time in career very briefly, he ended the year with top 20 for the first time since three years and collected his third ATP title in Rotterdam.

But if Wednesday was anything to go by, Youzhny needs to brush up his consistency else the top 10 will be hard to crack again.

This time it was his turn to hit the ridiculous button. Roger-Vasselin changed his shirt at the start of second set and though it might never be known whether that did the trick, he suddenly became his confident self again.

The Frenchman again asked questions of Youzhny forehand and frequently caught him on the run, winning the second set 6-1.

Already reeling under the impact of Baghdatis’s exit, Chennai Open could ill afford to lose the fourth seed. Youzhny didn’t disappoint.

He came back strongly in the third set and applied pressure on Roger-Vasselin.

By now it was clear that talented as he is, the Frenchman doesn’t know how to handle pressure.

He cowed and ultimately lost the third set 2-6, putting up little resistance.

In doubles, the Indian pair of Mustafa Ghouse and Karan Rastogi bit the dust against the Croat-Pak pair of Marin Cilic and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi 4-6, 6-7 (-17).