1ST Nalbandian wins Madrid marathon as Masters chase is on

dpa German Press Agency
Published: Friday October 20, 2006

Madrid- David Nalbandian edged closer to a possible place in the season championships as he won only his second match against Marat Safin to advance 6-4, 6-7 (6-8), 7-6 (7-2) into the semi-finals to the Madrid Masters Friday. The Argentine fourth seed came into the match with a 1-6 record against the Spanish-speaking Russian, a clear crowd favourite at the Madrid arena.

The win is two hours 58 minutes nudged Nalbandian up two places to sixth in the chase for one of the place in the eight-man Masters Cup in Shanghai.

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, the top two in the world, are the only men to have so far qualified with this weekend and two more weeks left in the ATP season.

Safin nearly overcame a performance which was riddled with 74 unforced errors, but helped by 21 aces.

"I'm actually more happy than frustrated because it's already my fifth week," Safin said after a possible preview of December's Russia-Argentina Davis Cup final in Moscow.

"I've been playing some great matches, a lot of three-set matches. I'm pretty happy. My situation was much worse months ago. I was 104, now I am fighting into the Top 30."

The Russian came back twice in the second set from a break down, levelling the sets with a tiebreak and saving a Nalbandian match point.

As the contest went into a third set, the intensity increased.

Safin was unpopularly denied what looked both be a match point of his own in the 12th game as the Hawk-eye line-calling system saw his return just out on a challenge from Nalbandian.

That decision forced another tiebreaker, with the Argentine claiming the win on the first of four additional match points.

"I came out completely flat," said Safin."In order to defeat players like Nalbandian, you have to be 100 percent fit and strong.

"Even though I had my chances, it didn't work my way."

Nalbandian is desperate to again reach Shanghai, where he stunned Federer in a comeback fifth set of the final.

He moved past fallen fellow contenders Tommy Robredo and James Blake onto sixth in the provisional standings.

Safin was looking for his first Masters Series final four since winning Madrid and Paris back-to-back two years ago. A knee injury which kept him out for more than six months prevented him from playing 12 months ago.

In later quarter-finals, Federer was playing American Robby Ginepri while defending champion Nadal was playing Czech Tomas Berdych.

© 2006 dpa German Press Agency