Djokovic beats Nalbandian in Cincinnati thirds round

August 20, 2010 - 13:15 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Novak Djokovic won the first four games of the match and eventually saved five set points in the second set to defeat David Nalbandian 6-1, 7-6(7) in the third round of the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters on Thursday. Djokovic needed one hour and 37 minutes to set up a quarterfinal showdown against Andy Roddick.

Nalbandian has enjoyed a solid run on the U.S. hard courts, but he did not hold serve a single time in the first set. Djokovic raced to a 4-0 lead before donating his own serve to put his opponent on the scoreboard. The third-ranked Serb promptly broke right back for 5-1 and served out the opening frame of play one game later.

Both players struggled on serve during set two, plagued by an inability to win second-serve points. Djokovic saved a pair of set points just to force a tiebreaker, and he fought off three more in the 'breaker. After a clutch second-serve at 6-7, Cincinnati's No. 2 seed took care of his next service point to gain match point at 8-7. With the pressure mounting, Nalbandian tossed in his fifth double-fault to end the proceedings.

The 37th-ranked Argentine, possibly in line for a U.S. Open seed despite the loss, won only 32 percent of his second-serve points and saved just one of six break points. Djokovic wrapped up his effort with two aces and three doubles, tennistalk.com reported.