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| July 7, 2002 | Sunday | Rabi-us-Sani 25,1423 |
Debutant Nalbandian reaches final
LONDON, July 6: David Nalbandian could barely control his emotions after becoming the first player in the Open era to reach a Wimbledon final on his debut with a 7-6 6-4 1-6 2-6 6-2 victory over Belgium’s Xavier Malisse on Saturday.
“This is very great for me, I cannot describe this,” he said afterwards, throwing his arms up in amazement.
Nalbandian is first Argentine to reach the All England Club men’s final and now has the daunting prospect of overhauling Australian world number one Lleyton Hewitt in Sunday’s final.
“This is the best win of my life and I don’t have too much time to celebrate but I’m going to enjoy this feeling for a little bit,” he said.
“For me this is a dream,” added the 20-year-old, who had never played a competitive grasscourt match on the ATP tour before his first-round match last week.
Nalbandian’s victory finally ended the giantkilling run of 27th seed Malisse, who had swept past fifth seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov, big serving Briton Greg Rusedski and 1996 champion Richard Krajicek en route to the last four.
Malisse showed few signs of the heart problem that had threatened to scupper his bid to become the first Belgian to reach a grand slam final on Friday and was first off the blocks in the final-set shootout against Nalbandian.
With the battle locked at two sets all when the rain-disrupted match resumed on Saturday, the 21-year-old Belgian scampered around court to whack back anything Nalbandian was throwing his way in the third game.
After being totally outplayed on break point up by Nalbandian, the pony-tailed Malisse sensationally pulled off a scorching forehand crosscourt shot which had the Argentine diving across the net in a fruitless attempt to latch on to the ball.
But Nalbandian was not about to waste all his hard work on the previous day — when he raced to a two-set lead before being pegged back — and won the next five games on the trot.
Abandoning his usual baseline tactics, he outfoxed Malisse by chipping and charging to the net at every opportunity.
In the sixth game, the pumped up Argentine covered the entire length of the court to hit an screaming passing shot past a frustrated Malisse, who slammed his racket on the ground after going down the break.
Using the serve and volley strategy that had completely fazed Malisse, Nalbandian grabbed his place in the final after just 32 minutes of fifth-set action with a delectable drop volley and fell to his knees in delight.
Struggling to hold back his tears, the Argentine picked himself off the ground to acknowledge the cheers from the court one crowd.
On Friday, Malisse had clawed his way back to level the contest at two sets all after struggling with a heart complaint during the first two sets.
Malisse was eventually assessed by a doctor, who advised him not to go on. But he decided to return after a nine-minute stoppage, which much displeased his 28th-seeded opponent.
While Malisse lost the second set, which was interrupted for 90 minutes by the weather with Nalbandian 4-2 up, he came storming back to grab the next two in just 50 minutes as darkness fell on a cold and damp day at Wimbledon.—Reuters
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