Match report

Nicolas Almagro © Tennistalk.com
Internazionali BNL d Italia
2nd round
5/7/08 1 2 Tot
es  Nicolas Almagro 6 7 2
ar  David Nalbandian 4 5 0
David Nalbandian © Tennistalk.com

  • Another early exit for Nalbandian

    5/8/08 12:29 AM | David Cox
    Nicolas Almagro dealt David Nalbandian’s French Open preparations a severe blow, sending the 7th seed crashing out 6-4, 7-5 on Day 3 in Rome. Nalbandian now faces the prospect of arriving in Paris rather undercooked unless he has a good run in Hamburg next week.

    The Foro Italico crowd is knowledgeable about their tennis and word had evidently spread that this could be a close one. A packed house had assembled and the fans weren’t disappointed as the two Latin warriors slugged it out for nearly two hours. Almagro had all the chances, 12 break points in total so despite being unseeded it wasn’t against the run of play when he earned two set points at 5-4 with a crunching forehand. Nalbandian generously double faulted on the next point.

    They continued to exchange heavy baseline blows into set 2, with the Nalbandian backhand remaining an ever-present threat. However, it was that shot which let him down when serving at 4-6, 5-6, as a cluster of errors presenting Almagro with a match point and he needed no second invitation.

    The loss leaves Nalbandian short of match practice ahead of the big one in three weeks time, but I doubt he’ll be too worried. He played a pretty good match today, just had the misfortune to run into a man on fire who won the big points. It takes a special performance to stop Almagro on clay at the moment. His backhand has always been a classy shot but it’s developed into a consistent weapon this year and it’s making a lot of difference.

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