PETE ZIEBRON
David Nalbandian's career is on the rebound yet again. Charles Gabrean Photography
Throughout the week, David Nalbandian served notice to the rest of the ATP field that he is indeed healthy and intends to contend for the 2010 US Open title which gets underway later this month. Today Nalbandian defeated Marcos Baghdatis 6-2 7-6(4) to win the Legg Mason Tennis Classic ATP 500 in Washington, DC.
The Washington title is the 11th of Nalbandian's career, 5th on a hard court and 1st in the United States. With the win, Nalbandian improves his 2010 record to 17-3, including 12-2 on hard courts. Yesterday, Nalbandian crushed #4 seed Marin Cilic 6-2 6-2 in the semifinals in only 73 minutes. Cilic entered the match with 24 wins on the hard court this year, second only to Andy Roddick. Today, Nalbandian cruised to an easy 6-2 first set win and had to hold on in the second set, saving a set point along the way to defeat the 8th seeded Baghdatis in the second set tiebreaker. Although Nalbandian stormed to a 5-0 lead in the tiebreak and had the match on his racquet, Baghdatis won the next 3 points and was determined to take the match the distance. However Nalbandian, who needed a wild card to enter the Legg Mason tourney, was not to be denied and held off Baghdatis, who entered the match with 23 hard court wins in 2010.
Nalbandian will rise to #45 in the new ATP rankings which will be released tomorrow. He entered the Legg Mason tournament ranked #117 and fell as low as #161 in March due to inactivity while nursing injuries. It has been a long road back for Nalbandian who was out for 9 months due to hip surgery from last June until this February and then a hamstring injury sidelined him for 2 months between April and July.
Despite injury, Nalbandian had his sights on playing Davis Cup for Argentina in 2010. The Argentines have never hoisted the Davis Cup. While most top players opt out of playing Davis Cup, Nalbandian actually decided not to play Wimbledon this year and used the extra time to train for Argentina's Davis Cup tie in Russia. Nalbandian won both matches in Moscow, defeating world #6 Nikolay Davydenko and #14 Mikhail Youzhny to propel Argentina into the Davis Cup semifinals where they will travel to France in mid-September.
"I've been playing great since Davis Cup a few weeks ago....If I feel motivated or (have) my goals I can play good in my first match out" said Nalbandian following his win over Cilic yesterday. With the win today, Nalbandian certainly has plenty of motivation for next week's Rogers Cup Masters 1000 in Toronto. Nalbandian is scheduled to play world #12 David Ferrer in the first round and the subsequent opponents don't get any easier. In fact, if Nalbandian wins and the seeds hold form in Toronto, Nalbandian would play: #38 Tommy Robredo in the 2nd round, #5 Robin Soderling in the 3rd, #4 Andy Murray in the quarterfinals, #1 Rafael Nadal in the semifinals and either #2 Novak Djokovic or #3 Roger Federer in the Final.
Based on the dominating play that David Nalbandian exhibited in Washington, DC this week, the entire ATP has taken notice of his accomplishments and will be looking for where his name appears in the draw at the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters 1000 the following week in Cincinnati as well as at the US Open. The US Open will be the first Grand Slam competition for Nalbandian since the 2009 Australian Open, which will break a string of 6 consecutive non-appearences at the majors!
- World #1 Rafael Nadal and #2 Novak Djokovic are pairing to play doubles at the Rogers Cup next week in Toronto. This marks the first time since #1 Jimmy Connors and #2 Arthur Ashe in 1976 that the top 2 ATP players have teamed to compete in doubles.
- An American will not appear in the ATP Top 10 for the first time since the rankings were implemented in 1973. Andy Roddick will fall from #9 to #11 when the new ATP rankings are released tomorrow.
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