Re: David Nalbandian angrily kicks Linesman and gets disqualified – Queens 2012 Final
Nalbandian Online video Ranking: one / five
Nalbandian Online video Ranking: one / five
David Nalbandian has been knocked out from the opening round of the ongoing Sony Open. He has been defeated by Jarkko Nieminen of Finland in the first round. Nieminen won the match in three sets by 2-6, 6-4, 6-3. In the second round, Nieminen’s opponent will be Martin Klizan of Slovakia.
In the match against Nalbandian, Nieminen made a comeback from the verge of defeat. He had lost the opening set and he had dropped his first couple of serves in the second set as well. He was clearly struggling at 0-3 in the second set. All Nalbandian needed was three serve holds and he would have been through. But, that didn’t happen. From that stage, Nieminen fought back in a remarkable manner and eventually managed to get better of Nalbandian.
This was an absolute cracker of a contest. It went on for 109 minutes and the spectators would have enjoyed each and every second of those 109 minutes.
This was Nieminen’s fifth victory over Nalbandian. These two players have played against each other 13 times so far.
Nalbandian hit more winners than his opponent in the match. He hit 15, while, Nieminen hit 14. Also, Nalbandian committed lesser unforced errors (33) as compared to Nieminen (27). Despite that, the Argentinean superstar had to suffer defeat.
Nalbandian didn’t start that well in the first set. He lost his very first service game in the match to get trailed by 0-1. Nieminen held his serve in the next game which gave him a 2-0 lead.
After the first couple of games, Nalbandian’s performance got better. All of a sudden, he started timing his shots to perfection and Nieminen was looking clueless. The Finnish player lost 9 games in a row and Nalbandian was not too far away from victory.
But, the momentum changed again. Nieminen broke in the 4th game of the second set and that breakthrough put him on the right track. He didn’t look back from there. By winning 6 out of the next 7 games, he won the second set by 6-4.
In the decider, Nieminen got an early breakthrough and he kept that lead till the end to pull off a great victory.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga has won Open 13 by defeating Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic in the final match. Tsonga defeated Berdych by 3-6, 7-6(6), 6-4. This was the 10th ATP title won by Tsonga in his career.
This was Tsonga’s second victory over Berdych in six meetings. Berdych was seeded higher than Tsonga in this tournament. The Czech player was given top seed, while, Tsonga was the third seeded player. Read more »
Nalbandian Online video Rating: 5 / 5
David Nalbandian’s compatriot, Juan Monaco, has been defeated by Andrey Kuznetsov of Russia in the first round of the Australian Open 2013. Kuznetsov won the match in the straight sets by 7-6, 6-1, 6-1.
Monaco became the first seeded player to be defeated in the first round. All the seeded players except him moved easily into the second round.
Monaco was not 100% fit before the match. During the match, he took quite a few injury timeouts to have treatment, but, even after that, his pain didn’t get reduced and he kept struggling in the last couple of sets.
Monaco had withdrawn his name from the Kooyong Classic exhibition tournament last week because of a hand injury. His participation in the Australian Open was in doubt because of that injury. The Argentinean didn’t manage to regain complete fitness before the Australian Open, but, he decided to take part in the tournament.
From the beginning of the second set, it was evident that Monaco was struggling, but, he didn’t retire. He kept playing with the pain till the end of the match. The crowd out there applauded for Monaco’s spirit of not giving up till the end.
In the first set, Monaco was not feeling that much pain and he played quite well. But, after the first set, his pain increased and his performance deteriorated. He was completely outplayed in the last couple of sets.
Kuznetsov hit some powerful shots and took the match away from Monaco. The Russian smashed a total of 6 aces in the match.
In the post match interview, Monaco said, “I hadn’t expected myself to be beaten in the opening round. It’s disappointing. Had I been 100% fit, the scenario could have been different.”
When asked if his injury is a severe one, Monaco said, “No, I don’t think it’s a major injury. I am sure I will get fit within next two weeks.”
Nalbandian Video Ranking: 5 / 5