Florian Mayer dumps David Nalbandian in second round – Shanghai Rolex Masters 2011
World number 23, Florian Mayer of Germany continued his belligerent form in the Shanghai Rolex Masters, outplaying the former world number three, David Nalbandian of Argentina, in the second round clash on Tuesday afternoon.
Seeded at number 15 in the tournament, the 28-year-old German veteran took one hour and fourteen minutes of play to outclass the Argentine wildcard in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4, to move into the third round of the ATP (association of Tennis Professionals) Masters Series event.
The contest was played on the outdoor hard courts of the Qizhong Forest Sports City Arena in Shanghai, People's Republic of China, with world number 57 crashing out of the tournament in his second match.
Mayer bagged his first ever World Tour-level title a couple of weeks ago in Bucharest, Romania, and has been in a magnificent form since then. The German registered his 41st victory of the running ATP season, with 23 defeats already to his name.
The 15th seeded German finally avenged his defeats from Nalbandian, who had outplayed Mayer on two prior occasions. The last meeting between these two men resulted in a straight sets victory for the Argentine, finishing 6-3, 6-2, in the Basel, Switzerland, in 2005. Mayer’s win on Tuesday improved his head-to-head record 1-2 against Nalbandian in singles encounters.
Mayer dropped just five points on his serve, clinching 24 out of 29 first serve points and cracked in four out of seven break points to finish on the winning note. He was off to a flying start in the opener, nailing two serve breaks right up to rocket away to a 4-0 lead in no time. Nalbandian registered his only break point conversion in the eighth game but was outdone by another break through from the German in the very next game to submit the first set at 3-6.
A regular game was witnessed in the following set, with the score board ticking on even terms until Mayer stung a decisive break point in the 10th game to finish off the matchup at 6-4.
Mayer will take on the winner of the all-Spanish affair between the world number two, Rafael Nadal, and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, in his next round matchup to battle for a place in the quarter-finals of the Master Series event. Nadal and Garcia-Lopez will go one-on-one against each other on Wednesday evening, with the winner facing Mayer in the third round of the Shanghai Masters.
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