Nalbandian Ends Masters Cup Run

The stage was set today for Andy to make it through to finals weekend in Shanghai. After his hugely encouraging display against Roger Federer on Tuesday and his win against Ljubicic on Sunday, Andy just needed to beat Nalbandian on Thursday to qualify. But unfortunately the Argentine produced a master class performance and there was little Andy could do to stop him racing to a 6-2, 7-6(4) victory which put Andy out of the Masters Cup.

Andy just couldn’t find his rhythm today. He was clearly nervous at the start of the match and was struggling to move his feet resulting in a lot of uncharacteristic unforced errors. Nalbandian definitely started the better of the two and he took advantage of Andy’s nerves to race through the set 6-2 with two breaks.

Andy’s fighting spirit didn’t let him down though. Although he was still struggling to find his best form he dug deep to try and stay with Nalbandian who was playing some breath taking tennis. He nearly got an early break when he held break point in the second game of the set, but Nalbandian played it well and Andy was denied his break. His resolve was finally broken at 3-3 when Nalbandian got what seemed like a crucial break. Andy’s serve was failing to make it’s usual devastating impact and Nalbandian took his chance to go 4-3 up with some great play.

Andy did get a reprieve when Nalbandian stepped up to serve for the match at 5-4. The Argentine played a very bad game, in contrast to the way he had played the rest of the match, clearly nervous at his chance to keep his Masters Cup hopes alive and Andy was able to get a break back simply by keeping the ball in play.

At that point it seemed as though the momentum had swung, especially when Andy went a mini break up in the tie break. Unfortunately though, Nalbandian rediscovered his fine form from earlier and quickly levelled up and went on to take the tie break 7-4 when Andy netted his return on the Argentine’s first match point.

It was a huge shame for Andy who had done so well in his previous round robin matches, but the fact that he lost in straight sets ruled him out of qualifying and the second qualifying spot in the Red Group will be between Nalbandian and Ljubicic.

This was not the way Andy would have wanted to end his year, but he should be proud of his achievements in 2006. He showed everyone when he reached the US Open final that the new Andy Roddick had arrived, and the way he played against Federer on Tuesday showed everyone that he is still very much one of Federer’s principle rivals, and we here at AR.com are confident that Andy will have a huge impact in 2007!