David Nalbandian Wins Legg Mason Tennis Classic
Argentina's David Nalbandian defeated No. 25 Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus 6-2, 7-6 (4) on Sunday at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic and became the first player ranked outside the top 100 to win an ATP title in 2010.
After missing nearly 12 of the past 15 months due to injuries, Nalbandian was ranked 117th and needed a wild-card invitation to get into the field. He hadn't played in a tournament since April. However, it was a typical Nalbandian performance using a powerful and effective baseline game coupled with strong service returns to take out Baghdatis and win his 11th career title.
"If he plays like that," Baghdatis said, "he can beat a lot of guys in the top 10."
It was Nalbandian’s first win in over 1½ years and his first win on U.S. soil
"I didn't expect to win my first tournament," Nalbandian said. "In the beginning, if I had to bet, I (wouldn't have) bet on myself, of course."
The 2002 Wimbledon runner-up started the match by breaking Baghdatis four of the first seven times Baghdatis served and easily took control of the first set.
"He's putting a lot of pressure on the return," said Baghdatis, who twisted his left ankle in the semifinals Saturday and said he felt pain early in the final.
Baghdatis picked up his service game in the second set and had a chance to extend the match to a third set. Leading 6-5, he held a set point at 30-40 with Nalbandian serving. After a lengthy exchange Baghdatis put a forehand into the net and Nalbandian eventually held serve at 6-6 to setup the tiebreaker. Nalbandian stormed out to a 5-0 lead before Baghdatis came back with three consecutive points to make things interesting.
With a 6-3 lead in the tiebreaker, Nalbandian, who had problems with his serve throughout the second set, hit his seventh double-fault on his first match point. Baghdatis then missed on a forehand on the next point to end the one hour and 59 minute match.
Asked if he feels as though he's playing like someone who's in the top 10, Nalbandian said: "So far, the ranking doesn't say so, but I think I won some great matches and that's what counts."
Nalbandian had an impressive week only dropping one set en route to the championship and is certainly a player to watch heading into the U.S. Open after upsetting four seeded players: number four Marin Cilic, number seven Stanislas Wawrinka, No. 13 Gilles Simon, and number eight Baghdatis.
"If I continue playing this good," Nalbandian said Sunday, looking ahead to Flushing Meadows, "I have chances to go very far."
Nalbandian has been ranked as high as number three and has reached the semifinals five times at major championships, including a loss to Lleyton Hewitt in the 2002 Wimbledon final. However due to his injury problems and missing the past six Grand Slam tournaments, Nalbandian slid down in the rankings to as low as 161st.
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