Tommy Haas battles past David Nalbandian into the second round – Rogers Cup 2012
Former world number two, Tommy Haas of Germany, continued to impress on his comeback run, as he overcame the challenge of earlier third ranked player from Argentina, David Nalbandian, in three sets 6-2, 6-7(11), 6-3 in the first
round of Rogers Cup in Toronto, Canada on Tuesday.
The German star reached victory after a close battle of two hours and 22 minutes.
Nalbandian hit the first blow, as he broke Haas in the very first game to move ahead 1-0 but failed to consolidate on it, equalising the proceedings at 1-1. Haas struck again in the fourth and captured his subsequent serve to attain
a 4-1 advantage. Nalbandian could not hold, when he served to stay in the set in the eighth game and lost it 2-6.
Haas and Nalbandian put on a remarkable display of serving in the second set, taking the score to 6-6 and forcing a tie-breaker. The German contender and his Argentinean rival went at par till 6-6. Nalbandian saved four match points
and went on to triumph 7-6(11).
Start of the final set was also stable by both players, as they did not allow each other to break serve in the first four games, squaring off the score at 2-2. Haas stung a break in the fifth and consolidated on it to go up 4-2.
Nalbandian managed to win only one point when he served to stay in the match at 3-5 and went down 3-6.
Haas pounded seven aces on Nalbandian but also committed six double faults. At least, his performance was better than the Argentinean, who hit four aces and made seven horrible double faults. Haas capitalised on five of the 11
break opportunities he created in the match.
During the post match press conference, he said, "I think it was an exciting match today overall, entertaining to say the least. A lot of chances there in the second set for me to maybe find a way to finish it off. He came up with
some good tennis and won the second set.”
He added, "Then it was really a matter of just staying tough mentally and really wanting to win the third set. I had to save some break points there early on in the third set; got the early break then to go up 3-2. That gave me
the momentum again I think to finish it off."
Haas will lock horns with the ninth seeded Frenchman, Gilles Simon, in the second round.
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