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Nalbandian through to men’s final

Nalbandian through to men’s final

AAP Friday 16 January 2009 18 Comments »

Fourth-seeded Argentine David Nalbandian is the first man through to the Medibank International Sydney final after cleaning up Frenchman Richard Gasquet in straight sets.

Nalbandian, who ended Lleyton Hewitt’s quest for a fifth title on Thursday, outclassed the unseeded Gasquet 6-4 6-3 in 81 minutes at Sydney Olympic Park on Friday.

The former Wimbledon finalist broke Gasquet’s serve once in the first set and twice in the second to set up the win and advance to his first final for 2009.

Despite the loss, Gasquet will head to Melbourne for the Australian Open full of confidence after two successive reaching the semifinal in two successive tournaments in Brisbane and Sydney.

Nalbandian will play either top seed and reigning Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic or Jarkko Nieminen in Saturday’s title match.

“Both are going to be tough,” Nalbandian said when asked which player he would prefer to play in the final.

“It’s the first week of the year, so it’s going to be tough for both, for all players.”

“I have to keep going and believing on my game and try to do a good match tomorrow.”

Nalbandian said he felt he had developed and improved his game during each match this week in Sydney.

“I feel that today I played much better than the first one and yesterday, so looks like every day is going on I feel more feeling on the ball and on the game,” he said.

“So it’s good playing a few matches and be in the finals here.”

In the men’s doubles events, the two top seeded pairings have both recovered from a set behind in their respective semifinals and advanced to Saturday’s final.

Nenad Zimonjic and Daniel Nestor beat Michael Fyrstenberg and Matkowski 2-6 7-5 (10-5) while Mike and Bob Bryan beat Mahesh Bhuphati and Mark Knowles 1-6 7-6(4) (10-5).

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  • Pearl

    Congratulations Richard Gasquet on an amazing performance at the Brisbane International and Medibank. Talent, sportsmanship and poise makes you one of the best players in the world. Good luck in the Aus Open. You are winning hearts all over the world. GO RICHARD!!

  • Cherie

    Congratulations to David! He’s in superb form. A pleasure to watch him play. Great to see him play without the disadvantage of the wind from yesterday.

  • Pearl

    Congratulations to Richard Gasquet on getting into the semi finals and an amazing performance at the Medibank. Talent, poise and sportsmanship makes you one of the best players in the world. Good luck for the Aus Open. I will be cheering you on!!

  • Maxi unquillense

    Bien ahi gordo!! suerte para esta noche contra el burlista serbio ese!

  • hazza

    Well done to David Nalbandian. He is playing some great tennis and I hope some form will go into the Australian Open!!!

  • sebastian

    David is a great player, we them will give all the Argentinians forces from here to gain the final and to begin well the year.

    congratulations!

  • SergioGL

    Grande David. Manana dale duro a ese boludito burlon.

  • Daniela

    well done david!! you played a great match!!! i hope u win in the final against the finnish man!! u can do it!! :)

  • noubar Semerjian

    C’mon David !!!!
    one more game and you are there, your 1st title of 2009.
    something Federer, Nadal, and even Djokovic couldnt do yet, reaching a 2009 tournament Final.

  • Tom

    Vamos David well done watched the match didnt even look like he was going to lose. Just one more match take Nieminen out and the title is yours you can do it ill be watching live ive always wanted to see him win in Australia.

  • Gabo

    Come on David!!!!!! suerte para este año man, que se te de el gran Slam.

  • Martin

    David’s talent and tennis are so great, I hope he wins the title and win one Grand Slam this year. His backhand is incredible.

  • RGfan

    Go Richard Gasquet! Looking forward to your great confidence and breakthrough in the Australian Open – you win hearts and have loyal followings – fans love you and we always believe in your depth and capability of lethal attacks! Go Richard, because you can!

  • Ozzie

    Great David. Fantastic performance. I hope this year justice is made. You deserve a Grand Slam.
    Great play by Gasquet.

  • santi

    vamos david!!!
    vamos argentina carajooooo!!!

  • edward donnan

    congratulations, david, encouraging start to your season

  • http://google Vivi

    Buena Suerte David. Great form and great tennis, it’s been good seeing a south american playing so well. Keep it up. Suerte at the Australian Open.

  • ohan yergainharsian

    Well done yet again David. We are all very proud of you.

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