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  • Indian Wells Fourth Round: Juan Carlos Ferrero vs. David Nalbandian

    3/19/08 8:25 PM | Ricky Dimon
    - Having just squared off in the third round of the Australian Open, Juan Carlos Ferrero and David Nalbandian will mix it up once again in the fourth round of the Pacific Life Open. Will Ferrero dominate like he did Down Under, or will Nalbandian get revenge?

    Marathon men Juan Carlos Ferrero will take on David Nalbandian on Thursday in a matchup of two players who survived third-set tiebreakers in their previous matches. This is the sixth head-to-head meeting between these two veterans, with Ferrero holding a 3-2 advantage. Nalbandian took their first two matches back in 2002 and 2003, but the Spaniard leveled the score with two victories in 2005. Most recently, Ferrero routed Nalbandian 6-1, 6-2, 6-3 in a third-round clash at the Australian Open just two months ago.

    After a relative slump the past few seasons, Ferrero is beginning to show signs of the Ferrero of 2003, when he won the French Open, lost in the U.S. Open final to Andy Roddick, and briefly became No. 1 in the world. “The Mosquito,” still has plenty of game and is ranked 22nd, but he simply is more inconsistent now than in the past. That inconsistency has already become apparent from his few 2008 results. He kicked off the season by finishing runner-up to Philipp Kohlschreiber in Auckland and reached the fourth round of the Australian Open by destroying David Nalbandian. Despite that early momentum, Ferrero compiled a dismal 1-3 match record heading into Indian Wells, including two first-round blowout losses to Teimuraz Gabashvili in Rotterdam and Roddick in Dubai. This week, however, he has flipped the light switch back on with a routine win over Thomas Johansson and a 7-4, 4-6, 7-6(7) nail-biter triumph over Mario Ancic.

    Nalbandian is in up-and-down form at the moment; clearly not where he was last fall when he shocked the tennis world with two straight Masters Series wins in Madrid and Paris. The No. 7 seed kicked off this season with the disappointing blowout loss to Ferrero in the third round Down Under, but he has since righted the ship. He won the title in Buenos Aires and then finished runner-up in Acapulco (lost to Nicolas Almagro). This week Nalbandian has won both of his matches in third-set tiebreakers. After surviving Ernests Gulbis on Sunday, Nalbandian stormed back from a 6-0 second-set drubbing and a third-set deficit to overcome Radek Stepanek.

    Almost nothing appears to separate Ferrero and Nalbandian right now, but something has to give on Thursday. It could come down to a test of mental strength, and considering Ferrero's recent destruction of Nalbandian, the Spaniard could have the edge in that department.

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