Moya Steps Up to Become Man of the Moment

MELBOURNE, Australia â€”  Carlos Moya is enjoying a rare leap from obscurity to stardom.

Like Boris Becker coming out of nowhere to win his first Wimbledon, like Pete Sampras cracking 100 aces for his first U.S. Open title, Moya’s sudden appearance in his first major final heralds the arrival of a new force in the game.

A Spaniard with movie star looks and a swashbuckling style on court, the 20-year-old Moya is no accidental tourist who happened upon a lucky draw and a few breaks after one undistinguished trip around the Grand Slam circuit.

He is the genuine article, a complete player from the baseline to the net, so good he could make beating Michael Chang look easy in a 7-5, 6-2, 6-4 semifinal in the Australian Open on Thursday.

Whoever he meets in Sunday’s final--Pete Sampras or Thomas Muster--and whoever he plays in the future will have to be ready for one very tough and resourceful opponent.

Moya has all the usual tools of the trade--big serve, solid backhand, monster forehand, top spin, touch, quickness and endurance. What really makes him stand out, though, is his intelligence and composure on court. He doesn’t get rattled during a match, and doesn’t let down in the next one.

As a rule, lower-ranked players who sneak up and knock off the big names in the game often fall flat in their next match and fade back into the shadows. Moya, ranked No. 28, had every opportunity to do that after beating Becker, the defending champion, in the first round.

Instead, Moya proceeded to mow down an impressive array of players, each difficult in a different way--Patrick McEnroe, Bernd Karbacher, Jonas Bjorkman, Felix Mantilla and Chang.

When Moya had to go the distance, he won five-setters against Becker and Bjorkman. When he had chances to win quickly, he blew away Karbacher and Chang.

Someone asked Moya if he was frightened at the start of the third set against Chang, perhaps thinking too much about beating the No. 2 seed so thoroughly. Moya shook his head, saying one of the keys to winning was not thinking about the magnitude of the moment, that this was a Grand Slam semifinal, that he would win a lot of money and gain a lot of points in the rankings.

“I kept fighting,� Moya said, summing up in those few words the attitude of all champions.

Nothing seems to faze him, and the confidence he has shown has not turned into cockiness.

“If I play against Sampras, he’s No. 1, but I beat No. 2 and No. 6,� Moya said. “I’m not going to go the court [with a losing attitude] in the final. There were 128 players on the first day. Now we are only two.

“He would be the favorite two weeks [ago], but now I don’t know if he would be the favorite.�

Moya’s fearless approach stems directly from the match he won against Becker indoors in Paris two months ago. Becker was riding high at the time, coming off a tournament victory in Stuttgart, Germany, beating Sampras and Chang en route and looking as if he had regained the form he showed in winning the Australian Open last year.

In Paris, Becker and everyone else expected a blowout of Moya. Becker is the best in the business indoors, and Moya was deemed just another Spanish clay court specialist who wouldn’t be able to cope on carpet.

As it turned out, everyone was wrong. Moya didn’t just outplay Becker, he overcame all of Becker’s antsy gamesmanship.

“I realized in that moment,� Moya said, “that I can beat anyone on any kind of surface.�

That realization, so critical in the passage of any tennis champion, led to Moya’s surge to final of the Sydney International two weeks ago and to the final of the Australian on Sunday. Whether he keeps going and takes the title, or bows out a runner-up, Moya is a young star unlikely to fade.