Blake and Nalbandian through in Stockholm

Written by: Global Chick on 19th October 2011

Blake and Nalbandian through in Stockholm

David Nalbandian of Argentina celebrates after beating Viktor Troicki of Serbia in their singles match of the Davis Cup World Group semi final between Serbia and Argentina in Belgrade, Serbia, 16 September 2011. Nalbandian won 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 and 6-3. EPA/KOCA SULEJMANOVIC |

David Nalbandian faced two match points today in his first round win against Xavier Malisse of Belgium at the If Stockholm Open.

Nalbandian won the If Stockholm Open in 2008 and haven’t been back to the capital of Sweden since. Today’s win over Malisse was a tough one and finished 4-6 7-6 (6) 7-6 (3). The former world number three was a break up in the third set but the Belgian came back and forced a third set tiebreak. The Argentine won the match in three hours and 41 minutes.

The No. 7 seed Ivan Dodig overcame Adrian Mannarino of France in two tough tiebreak sets. Dodig will clash with Nalbandian in the second round. The winner of that match will potentially face the number two seed Juan Martin Del Potro in the third round.

The 2005 and 2006 Stockholm Champion James Blake downed veteran Olivier Rochus of Belgium 7-6 (6) 6-3 in his opening round. The American hit 17 aces in today’s match at Kungliga Tennishallen. Blake faces the number two seed and in form Juan Martin Del Potro in the second round.

The Swedish crowd loves Finn Jarkko Nieminen. In 2006 the Finish No. 1 reached a career high ranking of 13, he is currently at No. 73. Nieminen came back from Asia where he reached the quarterfinals of the PTT Thailand Open losing to Monfils. Today he advanced into the second round by defeating Romanian qualifier Marius Copil 6-3 7-6 (4). Nieminen meets the No. 3 seed Stanislas Wawrinka in the next round.

Former world number five Tommy Robredo’s Stockholm campaign was disrupted by Germany qualifier Tobias Kamke. The Spaniard was beaten 6-2 6-3 in just over one hour.

South African Kevin Anderson won in two tiebreak sets against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. The World No. 31 is placed number five on the ATP rankings of most served aces. Anderson served 596 aces in 58 matches. Next up for the South African is wildcard player Tommy Haas who took out India’s Somdev Devvarman in straight sets yesterday.

The number three seeds in the doubles event Christopher Kas and Alexander Peya suffered an early exit today. Former top 10 team Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram won 12-10 in the third set match tiebreak. The Israeli team will face Marco Baghdatis and Juan Martin Del Potro in the second round.

Top seeds Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi need to win some more matches to secure a spot at the London event at the end of the year. The Indo/Pak Express are currently No. 7 in the race. Today’s straight set win over Julian Knowle and Lukasz Kubot is a good start to the week.

Brazilian team of Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares ousted German team Matthias Bachinger and Philipp Petzschner 6-3 7-6 (0).