Rafael Nadal overcomes David Nalbandian to reach the round of 16 – US Open 2011
World number two, Rafael Nadal of Spain, continued with his belligerence to take down the former world number three, David Nalbandian of Argentina, in the third round of the US Open on Sunday afternoon.
Playing at the Arthur Ashe Stadium of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows Park, of Queens, New York City, United States, Nadal took two hours and thirty nine minutes of play to dispense out the resilient Argentine in straight sets 7-6(5), 6-1, 7-5.
The defending champion, Nadal, had some tough time in the opening and the third set of the matchup, facing some serious resistance from the 76th ranked opponent but eventually come out as the winner to register his 56th victory of the running ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) season. It was the third victory in a row for the Spaniard against Nalbandian, who now trials 3-2 in the all-time head-to-head series against Nadal.
The unseeded Argentine was led down by his error-ridden game in the contest, as he coughed 60 unforced errors in the entire matchup, including seven costly double faults, to finish on the losing end. Nadal served brilliantly with 76 per cent precision to reel off 54 out of 78 first serve points in the game and conceded just 18 unforced errors in the whole contest.
“I’m happy about almost everything today,” said the second seeded Spaniard. “I think my movements worked pretty well, and the forehand worked really well, and the backhand, too. Just when I had to win the match with the 5-3 I played a really bad game there. For the rest of the match, I’m happy about everything.”
Nalbandian had his chances in the match but frittered them away carelessly to let the Spaniard away with victory. He registered the first serve break of the contest in the fifth game to take the better of Nadal but failed to sustain the winning momentum and eventually lost all of his steam in the following set.
“I think I played a good first set. I had my chances. I couldn’t take it. I think Rafa played good. He didn’t make a lot of mistakes, which is normal in his game,” told Nalbandian after losing the matchup.
Nadal will take on the unseeded Gilles Muller from Luxemburg in the fourth round clash to earn a place in the quarter-finals of the US Open. Muller registered a straight sets victory against the Russian contestant, Igor Kunitsyn, in the third round.
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