Nalbandian vs Nadal: Paris Masters Final
David Nalbandian’s brilliant run continues. Today he crushed local favorite Richard Gasquet in just over an hour. After the match Gasquet himself admitted that Nalbandian is playing better than Roger Federer at the moment, and he had never played such a strong opponent before. Tomorrow Nalbandian faces Rafael Nadal in the final of the Paris Masters. David is going for a second straight Masters title after winning in Madrid last month, where he dominated Nadal 6-1, 6-2 in the quarterfinals. It will be a great and entertaining match. I am just thrilled to see Nalbandian back in the spotlight with his smart and interesting game.
Media and tennis blogosphere are a buzz about Nalbandian’s resurgence. Here are some excerpts from popular tennis blogs:
Peter Bodo’s Tennis World:
“David Nalbandian is not in the running for a place in Shanghai, but he is sizzzzzling. So he’s next best thing to king - he’s a potential kingmaker. Enjoy the tennis, everyone!”
Nina Rota at Tennis Diary:
“I took a closer look at David Nalbandian’s win over Roger Federer in this week’s Paris Masters Series event. Nalbandian beat Federer yesterday to get to the quarterfinals.
Federer had lost the first set and had just been broken to go down 4-5 in the second when it hit me: Federer will not win the Australian Open next year.
A prediction on my part for sure and Federer actually broke Nalbandian in the next game to even the second set at 5-5. But Federer looked very ordinary. He couldn’t take control of the points consistently while Nalbandian was able to move Federer wide then hit winners to the open court again and again.
Nalbandian won the match in straight sets, 6-4, 7-6(3), and it was a rather routine win.
I don’t know what Nalbandian’s excuse is for playing so well considering that he hadn’t reached a semifinal in almost a year before he won Madrid two weeks ago. Evidently he was having some physical problems and couldn’t train properly.”
“Simply put, Nalby beat Fed from everywhere on the court, making Fed hit awkward and defensive shots devoid of any magic. For most of the match, Fed’s first serve kept him around, as well as a few tight moments from Nalby who failed to serve out the first set at 5-2 and the match at 5-4. But the dogged competitor recovered and closed out the match in straights to level his lifetime record against Fed at 8 wins apiece …”
Enjoy the match tomorrow!
