2011 Heineken Open: Number one Argentine David Nalbandian edges past Nicolas Almagro into the final
Playing for the fifth time on the ATP Tour, top Argentine tennis player David Nalbandian met second seeded Nicolas Almagro for their semi-final clash on Friday at Auckland. In its last days, Auckland plays host to tennis stars competing at the 2011 Heineken
Open.
Ranked 14th in the world, Spaniard Nicolas Almagro received a wildcard into his first 2011 event. Seeded second, Almagro received a bye into the second round. Playing his first match of 2011, Almagro was pitted against Romanian Victor Hanescu.
In a straight, yet not so simple, sets victory of 6-4, 7-6(3), Almagro moved past Hanescu to meet qualifier Adrian Mannarino in the quarterfinals.
After a hard fought battle with the first two sets going into tiebreakers, Almagro finally did away with the French to secure a spot for himself in the semi-finals. The score line for the match was 7-6(3), 6-7(1), 6-2.
Finishing last year in the Top 20, Almagro secured two title wins for the year winning them at the Allianz Suisse Open Gstaad and at the SkiStar Swedish Open in Bastad.
Meeting Nalbandian for the fifth time on the courts, the pair stood at a levelled head- to-head score, registering 2-2. Eager to take an edge over the other, both players brought their best to the courts today. Their last meeting had come in 2009 when the
two had met at the Barcelona Open. Back then, the Argentine had won the match in straight sets to level the head-to-head.
Ranked 27th in the world, Nalbandian finished last year with only one successful final run, enjoying it at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington.
Playing at his first event of 2011, Nalbandian was the only player to move into the semis without any set loss. Seeded sixth in the main draw, he met and defeated Fabio Fognini 7-6(3), 6-4 before meeting Philipp Petzschner in the second round. Doing away
with the German by 6-3, 6-2, the Argentinean moved ahead to play defending champion John Isner in the quarterfinals. Though not with much ease, Nalbandian was successful in ousting Isner in straight sets registering 6-4, 7-6(3) for the match.
Setting up a semis clash with Almagro, Nalbandian won the toss and opened serve. Breaking Almagro’s serve in the second game, Nalbandian rushed to a 2-0 lead maintaining it until the end, while winning the first set 6-4. Entering into the second set, Nalbandian
continued to maintain his form and dominated the courts, eventually winning the set with a loss of only two games.
Although the Argentine served only one ace to Almagro’s eight, he lost only 22 of 65 points to sail into the finals. The match lasted only eighty-five minutes.
Though Almagro had put up a superb fight, the fact that Nalbandian won could be because that Almagro was injured. The Spaniard had to call a medical timeout to get his right foot examined. The injury cost Almagro not only the spot in the final, but he also
trails 2-3 now in the career head-to-head.
Next, Nalbandian moves ahead to play top seed David Ferrer in the final on Saturday.
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