Nalbandian stuns Nadal to take Paris Masters
The Paris crown marks David Nalbandian’s second title of 2007 and
Paris, France - David Nalbandian finished an unbelievable run by stunning second-seeded Rafael Nadal to win the Paris Masters Sunday.
After falling behind 4-3 in the first set, the Argentine stormed back to win nine straight games en route to a 6-4, 6-0 victory.
“Rafa started playing better [early] than in the end,” Nalbandian said. “He served very good in the beginning, too. Played more deep and with a lot of intensity, too. So for me it was a little tougher. But after I broke him, I felt that I was playing better than him. I played more relaxed, started hitting winners almost from everywhere. That gave me confidence.”
Nalbandian has become a giant killer of late. After beating Nadal in the quarterfinals at Madrid, Nalbandian went on to knock off Novak Djokovic in the semifinals and world No. 1 Roger Federer in the title match. He became just the third player in ATP history to beat the world’s top three players in the same event, joining the great Boris Becker, who did it in 1994, and Djokovic, who accomplished the feat at the Montreal Masters this year.
“I never thought that I can win Madrid and Paris like the way I did,” Nalbandian said. “But I feel that I play very good from the last Sunday, not just today. All week I was playing great, and I don’t know why the result was so easy.”
Nalbandian also beat Federer this week, eliminating the Swiss star in the third round on Thursday.
The Paris crown marks Nalbandian’s second title of 2007 and the seventh of his career. He is also a perfect 2-0 lifetime against Nadal, with the 6-1, 6-2 rout of the Spanish lefty in Madrid the only previous meeting.
“It was a very good first set,” Nadal said. “The second set I played bad, very bad. But he started playing very good. I have my chances a little bit in the first set. Not much, because he’s playing with unbelievable confidence.”
Nadal, meanwhile, failed in his bid to claim his seventh title of 2007.
“He’s one of the best players of the world,” Nadal said. “You just have to congratulate him… I never saw him play like this. Today I played against one who is playing better than me and than the rest of the players, too.”
Nalbandian earned $491,412 for his win and will vault back into the world top 10 at No. 9 on Monday. Nadal pocketed $245,706.
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