Red hot Nalbandian faces Murray in Toronto quarters - preview
David Nalbandian has surged into the quarter-finals of the Rogers Cup in Toronto with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 victory over fifth seed Robin Soderling and will no doubt be hoping to repeat the dose when he takes on Andy Murray for a place in the semis.
The victory over Soderling was the Argentinian’s 11th straight win, having stormed to the Washington title last week, dropping just one set along the way, and setting up Argentina’s victory over Russia in the Davis Cup quarter-finals before that.
What makes Nalbandian’s current streak all the more impressive, is that he’s done it with the bare minimum of match fitness, with injury limiting the 28-year-old to just five previous tournaments in 2010 after hip surgery last May sidelined him for the remainder of that season.
Nalbandian’s victory over French Open runner-up Soderling was surely the match that erased any doubt about just how strong the world No. 45’s form is right now, and follows wins against 10th seed David Ferrer in the first round and Tommy Robredo in the second, the latter completed in less than one hour for the loss of just three games.
Defending champion Murray is now tasked with providing a roadblock to the surging Nalbandian, and his topsy-turvy 6-2, 0-6, 6-3 victory against Gael Monfils in the third round suggests the Scot may well have his work cut out for him in this match.
The world No. 4 has endured a testing season of his own, his form heading south after losing to Roger Federer in the Australian Open final, but Wimbledon (where Murray reached the semi-finals) seems to have marked an upswing for the counterpuncher, who reached the final in Los Angeles in his previous tournament.
Still, Murray is notably without a title yet this year, and as of last month is also without a coach, and his mid-match fade-out against Monfils provides some cause for concern.
“I was dictating a lot of the points in the first set and let him [Monfils] back in in the second and needed to make sure I started dictating again. And I came forward, came to the net a little bit more in the third and it helped,” Murray said after the match.
In Nalbandian’s current form, it’s hard to see Murray being allowed the opportunity to recover from such a lapse in his quarter-final match.
Nalbandian will enter this match with a 2-0 win-loss record against Murray in their past clashes, and with the way he’s playing at the moment, who’s to say it won’t be 3-0 after this one?
Tags: