2011 Heineken Open: David Nalbandian thrashes John Isner to reach semis
Former world number three David Nalbandian of Argentina bundled out John Isner of US at the 2011 Heineken Open tennis tournament on Thursday.
Isner, the winner of 2010, lost the quarterfinal at the hands of his Argentinean foe with a score line of 4-6, 6-7 in less than 90 minutes.
Nalbandian, as a result of this victory, has made his way into the semi-final round in Auckland.
“I think I played a good match today - aggressive; I did not serve very good but the rest was almost perfect. I think I played good, I am happy to win and I want to keep going the same way. Every single day here is tough and you have to be ready and focused,”
said Nalbandian after the match on Thursday.
Isner, who hardly survived a scare in his second round match against Robin Haase on Wednesday, played a better game against Nalbandian however, the Argentinean did not allow the American to dominate during any stage of the game.
The big serving Isner, who in 2010 called Heineken Open his favourite competition, failed to find his rhythm against Nalbandian. He could not break his opponent’s serve even once and lost the first set 4-6.
Nalbandian, who started the second set again, confidently wrapped up the battle after dominating the tiebreaker. Even Isner’s eight aces could not save him from crashing out of the tournament.
The Argentinean has joined David Ferrer and Nicolas Almagro in the semi-final line-up in Auckland.
Ferrer advanced into semis after toppling eight seed Philipp Kohlschreiber in a three set thriller. The final match score was 6-3, 6-7, 6-3.
Almagro, on the other hand, required three sets to end the campaign of Adrian Mannarino 7-6, 6-7, 6-2 earlier in the day.
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