Tennis: Nalbandian and Ferrer advance to third round
Nalbandian was joined by 11th-seed David Ferrer of Spain who survived a second set wobble to dismiss qualifier Agustin Calleri of Argentina 6-3 4-6 6-4.
Calleri defeated Albert Costa on Monday but was unable to contain Ferrer in the third set and he slipped to his third defeat this year to the Spaniard.
American Robby Ginepri came from a set down to beat France’s Sebastien Grosjean 4-6 6-4 6-4 in their second round match - the first time the 23-year-old has beaten Grosjean.
Ginepri has reached the quarterfinals of his last four tournaments and also got to the semifinals of the U.S. Open where he lost in five sets to Andre Agassi.
Earlier on Tuesday, giant Croatian Ivo Karlovic won the battle of the big servers when he came from a set down to edge Greg Rusedski 6-7 7-6 7-6 in their first round clash.
Karlovic, who also beat the British number two when they met in Washington earlier this season, reeled off 28 aces on his way to a victory that took two hours and 17 minutes.
The 26-year-old, who at 2.08 metres is the tallest man on the ATP circuit, will now face another big hitter in second-seeded Andy Roddick of the United States.
“If you could have written the worst draw for me then this was it,” said Rusedski. “With the altitude here and the hard courts his serve was even faster than usual and it’s not fun for anyone to play him.
“I didn’t do much wrong and didn’t lose my serve but he played some really good tennis.”
Later on Tuesday, local favourite Juan Carlos Ferrero plays Max Mirnyi of Belarus.
Top seed and world number two Rafael Nadal is set to make his debut in a second round match against Victor Hanescu of Romania on Wednesday but there is still a question mark over the 19-year-old’s participation because of tendinitis in his knees.
Earlier late on Monday, Britain’s Tim Henman made a fine start with a clinical 6-2 6-4 first-round win over American Taylor Dent.
The 31-year-old, who is danger of spoiling his record of finishing in the top 20 and reaching at least one ATP final in each of the last eight years, was in determined mood.
Henman, who has only won one match in his previous three appearances in Madrid, out-thought and out-played the powerful Californian on the centre court at the Madrid Arena.
The unseeded Briton now meets 10th seed Czech Radek Stepanek in the second round of the two million-euro ($2.41 million) hardcourt tournament.
Sebastian Grosjean also showed signs of returning to form with a 7-5 4-6 6-2 win over home favourite Feliciano Lopez.
Monday’s late results:
Tim Henman (GBR) bt Taylor Dent (USA) 6-2, 6-4; Sebastien Grosjean (FRA) bt Feliciano Lopez (ESP) 7-5, 4-6, 5-2; Tommy Haas (GER) bt Andrei Pavel (ROM) 7-6 (7/4), 6-2.
Tuesday’s results:
Second Round: David Nalbandian (Argentina) bt Juergen Melzer (Austria) 7-6 6-3; David Ferrer (Spain) bt Agustin Calleri (Argentina) 6-3 4-6 6-4; Robby Ginepri (United States) bt Sebastien Grosjean (France) 4-6 6-4 6-4
First Round: Jose Acasuso (Argentina) bt Mikhail Youzhny (Russia) 6-7 6-4 2-0 RET; Carlos Moya (Spain) bt Filippo Volandri (Italy) 6-1 6-2; Olivier Rochus (Belgium) bt Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) 1-6 7-6(6) 6-3; Ivo Karlovic (Croatia) bt Greg Rusedski (Britain) 6-7(5) 7-6(2) 7-6(3); Christophe Rochus (Belgium) bt Gael Monfils (France) 6-4 6-4.
ZURICH: Lindsay Davenport can regain the world number one spot by beating Slovak Daniela Hantuchova in the second round of the Zurich Open on Thursday.
If third-placed Davenport fails to beat Hantuchova, who reached the second round with a 1-6 7-5 6-4 win over Japan’s Ai Sugiyama on Tuesday, second-placed Belgian Kim Clijsters will return to top spot in next week’s rankings.
World number one Maria Sharapova is not defending the ranking points she received by reaching the Zurich final last year.
First round results: Katarina Srebotnik (SLO) bt Shinobu Asagoe (JPN) 6-4, 7-6 (9/7); Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) bt Ai Sugiyama (JPN) 1-6, 7-5, 6-4; Nathalie Dechy (FRA) bt Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7/3).— Agencies