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  • Ferrer, Nalbandian kick off 2008 Davis Cup final

    11/20/08 10:10 PM | Ricky Dimon
    - The pairings are out and David Ferrer will meet David Nalbandian in the first singles rubber of the 2008 Davis Cup final. Nalbandian will have the home crowd behind him in Mar del Plata.

    The schedule for the Davis Cup final between Spain and Argentina was revealed on Thursday, and David Ferrer will clash with David Nalbandian in the opening singles rubber on Friday afternoon. They will be followed by Feliciano Lopez and Juan Martin Del Potro.

    It will be the tenth career head-to-head encounter between Ferrer and Nalbandian when they get the proceedings started. Ferrer holds a 6-3 advantage, but that mark is a little misleading. Ferrer has won all four of their clay-court meetings, but Argentina is hosting the tie on indoor hard courts to combat the Spaniards' clay-court prowess. Nalbandian leads Ferrer 3-2 on hard courts (none outdoors) and won two of three hard-court matches in 2007. Ferrer's lone victory came in an epic five-setter at the U.S. Open. The two competitors have not yet squared off in 2008.

    Ferrer's 2008 campaign has been a tale of two seasons. The first half featured outstanding tennis from the Spaniard and kept him firmly entrenched in the Top 10. He reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open and the French Open and won smaller clay-court titles on both clay and grass. Beginning with the U.S. Open Series, however, Ferrer endured a dismal slump. He now finds himself outside the Top 10 at No. 12 in the world.

    Nalbandian's year has also been up and down, although at the moment he is going in the opposite direction from Ferrer. The same thing happened for the Argentine in 2007, when he ended an otherwise-brutal season with back-to-back Masters Series titles on the indoor hard courts of Madrid and Paris. During this year's indoor swing, he won a title in Stockholm and finished runner-up in both Basel (to Roger Federer) and Paris (to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga).

    While Ferrer is clearly capable on fast surfaces, Nalbandian is a flat-out force indoors. Not only does Nalbandian have the surface in his favor, he will also have a raucous Argentine crowd behind him. The fans are starved for what would be Argentina's first-ever Davis Cup title. Ferrer might be able to come up with a set, but Nalbandian should be able to take care of business in no more than four sets.

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