Tommy Haas edges past David Nalbandian into the second round – Western & Southern Open 2012
In a match between two former top three ranked players, Germany’s Tommy Haas bounced back from a deficit of one set to oust David Nalbandian of Argentina in the first round of Western and Southern Open on Tuesday. This is an ATP
World Tour Masters 1000 event, being held on the hard courts in Cincinnati, USA.
Former world number two, Tommy Haas, lost the first set 6-7(0) but managed to win the following two 7-6(4), 6-3 to down the previously third ranked player.
Haas and Nalbandian swapped a single break of serve in the first set, taking the score to 6-6 and forcing a tie-breaker. The Argentinean amazed everyone by playing some flawless game after that, grabbing six points in a row to
triumph 7-6(0).
Nalbandian started the second set in the best possible manner, as he hit a blow to his German opponent in the second game to go up 2-0 but Haas broke back immediately to equalise the score at 2-2. The rest of the set went with
serves, levelling the score at 6-6 and taking it to a tie-breaker. This time, both players went at par till 3-3 and then Haas snatched four of the following five points to clinch it 7-6(4).
Start of the decider was steady, as Haas and Nalbandian held their serve in the opening seven games to take the score to 4-3 in the former’s favour. The German star struck in the eighth and capitalised on the advantage to win 6-3.
Haas needed three hours and 22 minutes to throw his opponent out of the tournament after a marathon battle.
The 34-year-old, whose ranking was around 200 six months ago is now on 23rd position in the world with the help of some brilliant performances. Haas said on this, "I won't lie. In some ways it's very surprising. But
at the same time, it's a feeling of a lot of satisfaction. Once the year is done, I'm sure I'm going to look back and just be like, 'Holy s---. What kind of year did I have, out of nowhere really?”
He added, "Six, nine months ago I was having different thoughts and just waiting and seeing how this year was going to go. I have a family of my own now as well, and if it wasn't going to go as planned with injuries or if I'm not
going to catch up anymore, who knows what I was going to do."
Haas will meet the sixth seed, Juan Martin Del Potro, in the second round.
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