David Nalbandian surprises Ivan Dodig again in second round – If Stockholm Open 2011
Continuing the series of upsets at the If Stockholm Open, 58th ranked David Nalbandian from Argentina devastated the world number 32, Ivan Dodig of Croatia, in the second round clash on Thursday.
Being played on the indoor hard courts of Stockholm, Sweden, the seventh seeded Croat suffered a humiliating straight sets defeat from the former world number three. Nalbandian took merely 59 minutes to wrap up victory at 6-1,
6-1, to force his way to the quarter-finals of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250 tournament.
It was a completely one-sided affair, with the unseeded Argentine dominating every second of the matchup. Nalbandian outclassed his opponent in every segment of the game and won 12 out of 14 total games being played in the match.
He blasted his way through both sets with the utmost ease and kept his clean record against the Croat competitor. Nalbandian defeat Dodig in the round of 16 in Tokyo, Japan, earlier this year and his Thursday’s victory extended his head-to-head lead by 2-0
against him.
It was Nalbandian’s 22nd victory of the current year and a much needed one as well. Dodig proved to be a total mismatch for the belligerence of the Argentine competitor and utterly failed to put any serious resistance
throughout the contest. The seventh seeded Croatian couldn’t register a single break point in the entire matchup, squandering one break opportunity in the opener to finish on the losing side in the end.
Nalbandian took the reins of the contest right from the beginning and then never lost control of the game in the rest of the match. He took off the opening set with two straight serve breaks to race away to a commanding 5-0 lead
in the matchup. Dodig was bewildered by the series of forays from the Argentine and submitted the first set to him at 1-6.
Argentine domination continued to prevail with its full effect in the following set as well, as Nalbandian nailing two more break points to drive Dodig out of the competition. He wrapped up the second set at 6-1, to enter the quarter-final
round of the tournament in the most authoritative fashion.
Nalbandian will face the unseeded American opponent, James Blake, in his next encounter for a place in the semis of the If Stockholm Open. Blake produced a huge surprise in the second round when he stunned the world number 15,
Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina, in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4, to make his way to the final eight.
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