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  • Nalbandian and Youzhny press on to the second round

    8/12/08 1:51 AM | Cheryl Murray
    - Tuesday is a busy day at the tennis venue. The entire field will play their second round matches, including David Nalbandian and Mikhail Youzhny.

    David Nalbandian spends much of his career perplexing his fans and experts alike. The talented Argentine fluctuates from stunning victories to inexplicable defeats with no hint of which player is going to show up at a tournament. Last year in Madrid and again in Paris, Nalbandian beat Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic in successive matches. This year, he got bounced from the Australian Open in the third round by Juan Carlos Ferrero and in the second round of the French Open by little-known Frenchman Jeremy Chardy.

    It is anyone’s guess which Nalbandian will show up for Beijing. He routed his first round opponent, Shao-Xuan Zeng 6-2, 6-1. Whether he can do the same to Nicolas Massu in the second round remains to be seen. Massu is the defending Olympic champion. The Chilean took the top prize four years ago in Athens, but his 2008 has been dismal. Nalbandian should be able to win with ease.

    Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny also sees second round action on Tuesday. His opponent is the veteran Swede Thomas Johansson. Johansson’s Swedish teammates Robin Soderling and Jonas Bjorkman were ousted in their first round matches already. The two men have met on four occasions, splitting the wins at two each. The last time Johansson beat Youzhny however (the last win was a walkover) was in 2002. Youzhny is the better hard court player now, however, and Johansson would have to dig deep or hope for an off day for the Russian in order to win.

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