Nalbandian first Argentinian to conquer Sydney International
Nalbandian claimed his 10th career ATP title in 20 finals in winning, 6-3, 6-7 (9/11), 6-2 in two hours and 16 minutes.
Nalbandian is heading into next week’s Australian Open as the 10th seed and the four-time quarter-finalist will begin his campaign against Frenchman Marc Gicquel on Tuesday.
The last Argentine to reach the Sydney final was Juan Ignacio Chela in 2002 when he lost to Roger Federer.
Nalbandian, playing in his first Sydney International tournament, defeated Frenchman Michael Llodra, four-time champion Lleyton Hewitt and Frenchman Richard Gasquet on the way to the final.
He extended his perfect record to seven from seven matches at the Sydney Olympic venue after helping Argentina beat Australia in the 2005 Davis Cup quarter-final.
Nalbandian stretched his record over Nieminen to 7-4 with the Sydney victory.
Nalbandian appeared to be heading for a comfortable straight sets victory when he was serving for the match at 5-4, but was broken to love as Nieminen surged back into contention.
The left-handed Finn battled back, making a match of it and taking the second set in a thrilling tiebreaker 11 points to nine.
But the Argentine broke Nieminen’s serve three times in the final set to take the championship.
The loss continued Nieminen’s poor conversion rate in finals, with just one title from nine career finals.
Nieminen’s coach, Swede Joachim Nystrom won the tournament when it was played at White City in 1983.
Del Potro maintains supremacy
AUCKLAND: Top seed Juan Martin Del Potro maintained his meteoric rise up the tennis world rankings with a 6-4, 6-4 win over American Sam Querrey in the final of the Heineken Open here on Saturday.
The Argentine world number nine has risen 56 places in the rankings since the middle of last year and carried the momentum into 2009 by clearly outclassing the tournament’s sixth seed.
In July last year the 20-year-old won his first ATP title in Stuttgart, quickly followed by more victories in Kitzbuhel, Los Angeles and Washington, as well as being the beaten finalist in Tokyo.
He proved in Auckland — a warm-up for the Australian Open — that he has lost nothing since last year, dropping only one set all week.
“Sam is a very good player with a great serve but today I won the break points and he didn’t,” Del Potro said.
Querrey said his loss was largely down to being able to successfully land only 55 percent of his first serves.
“I would like to be getting 70 per cent or higher on my first serve. You can’t play average and beat guys in the top 10,” he said.
Del Potro controlled most of the rallies, with Querrey relying largely on his booming first serve and ground shots to keep him in the match.
Querrey served two aces at deuce to go 4-3 ahead in the first set after both players had dropped a serve each.
But Del Potro, playing with greater steadiness than the world number 36, broke back in the ninth game and went on to hold his serve and secure the first set.
In the fourth game of the second set, underdog Querrey had the chance to grab the first service break.
But Del Potro again showed the ability to lift his game when needed, fighting back to blast two aces on the game’s third deuce to draw level at 2-2.
“I felt nervous when I was two break points down in the second set but I made some good serves and after that I started to play well,” Del Potro said.
“I tried to serve and volley and I won every volley I made.”Del Potro grabbed the initiative in the ninth game, pushing his opponent around the court with precision to take a 5-4 lead, before holding serve to secure the title.
Federer receives timely boost
MELBOURNE: Roger Federer received a timely confidence boost ahead of the Australian Open after lifting his second warm-up title in five years at the Kooyong Classic on Saturday.
The world number 2 will start his bid Monday for a fourth title at Melbourne Park, bolstered by a near-perfect tune-up this week at suburban Kooyong which ended in a 6-1, 6-3 win over Swiss compatriot Stanislas Wawrinka in the final Saturday.
After labouring a year ago with the effects of a glandular fever which coloured the first half of his season, Federer’s health is not currently an issue.
“I’m always confident entering any grand slam because of all the success I’ve had the last six years,” the 13-time grand slam champion said after his 57-minute match against 16th-ranked Wawrinka, with whom he lifted the Beijing doubles gold medal last August.
“I always feel at the end of the day I’m going to play well at the slams and it will take an incredible performance from someone else to beat me.”
Federer improved his record against his Davis Cup teammate to 3-0.
The only good luck for the 23-year-old Wawrinka came at the net before the start when the flip of a Swiss franc coin went in his favour.
From then on, Federer took control in an opening set which lasted less than half an hour.
His warm-up week completed, Federer’s next objective is first-round opponent Andreas Seppi of Italy.
“Expectations are high from my side to do well. I’m always eager to do well early in the season to build some momentum for the rest of the year.
“My draw is tough but possible. I go round by round. Seppi is difficult, but I beat him in Doha recently. Hopefully I’ll get through that one.”—AFP