Washington QF: Nalbandian def. Simon 3-6 6-2 6-3

Great match, great win for Nalby :worship:

what the hell were you watching? this was a nightmare

11 breaks of serve? come one thats embarassing:o

Great match? You are kidding right? :confused:

Misty, it was 12 breaks of serve. :o

48 Unforced errors from Nalbandian apparently.

not a good 3rd set but Nalby eventually held it together when serving for it, finishes with an ace :worship:

:yippee:

Wow that was horrific...

Good tourney from Gilles, tough matchup. Nalbandian played well in patches and when he did, he was able to overpower Simon.

What a boring player this Simon, pushing the ball all the time. Good win Nalby.

Pretty horrible match. Congrats to Dave on a tough win.

Glad that David turned things for him.

When Simon started pushing he started losing. Ridiculous Gilles. When he started hitting the ball like he's capable of he would get on a roll. When he broke back in the 3rd it's what he did and when he got up 6-3, *1-0 he was very aggresive. He does this pushing little girl tennis and he fails.

not a good match, way to many errors from nalbandian, still won the match though. :)

Definitely not a horrible match. David brainfarted at the start and near the end of the third, but other than that it was really fun to watch.

Especially considering both of these players' lack of matchplay.

Not the best tennis from dave, but still a good win. Good luck tomorrow.

This was baseline at its absolute worst. :o Can't remember the last time I saw such a terrible match between two quality players - perhaps Chakvetadze vs. Kuznetsova USO '07 SF, and that was WTA.

I mean, hot mess.

Nevertheless, first tour semifinal for Nalbandian since February 2009.

:wavey: Pushers.

When Simon started pushing he started losing. Ridiculous Gilles. When he started hitting the ball like he's capable of he would get on a roll. When he broke back in the 3rd it's what he did and when he got up 6-3, *1-0 he was very aggresive. He does this pushing little girl tennis and he fails.

He cant help it, have you seen how skinny he is? Simon is actually hitting the ball about as hard as he is capable of most of the time. :p

When Simon started pushing he started losing. Ridiculous Gilles. When he started hitting the ball like he's capable of he would get on a roll. When he broke back in the 3rd it's what he did and when he got up 6-3, *1-0 he was very aggresive. He does this pushing little girl tennis and he fails.

I agree. The funny thing is that every commentator completely underestimates Simon. He was disproving them for a set and a bit until he lost his focus and his game plan. Too much Frenching, too much complaining to coach, not even heart.

Definitely not a horrible match.

:confused: :confused:

Simon played a good defensive game, frustrated nalby alot but he found a way in the end.

Horrible :o My commentators were raving about it, no idea what they were watching.. A couple of good patches from David but apart from that..

:confused: :confused:

Defensive player vs offensive player, both lacking match practise. What did you expect? It was not bad imo.

a win is a win. you can't expect a good match when pusher Simon is on the court

He cant help it, have you seen how skinny he is? Simon is actually hitting the ball about as hard as he is capable of most of the time. :p

Simon actually has great snap on his shots that he achieves with naturally good timing and torque. The problem is that he needs to stay very alert with his movement because if he starts to get jerked around and has to resort to pushing, then he loses. He always plays better when he's moving forward into the court. The injury he sustained in 2009, most likely from overplay after a really good 52 weeks of a lot of brutal tennis, really crippled his game and his confidence. I think he can get it back with enough match practice if he maintains optimism.

Baghdatis
Malisse
Nalbandian
and hopefully Tipsarevic in the semis, great matches ahead!

This was baseline at its absolute worst. :o Can't remember the last time I saw such a terrible match between two quality players - perhaps Chakvetadze vs. Kuznetsova USO '07 SF, and that was WTA.

I mean, hot mess.

Nevertheless, first tour semifinal for Nalbandian since February 2009.

It's quite a stretch to call Simon a quality player...no idea how he beat Roddick(or anybody else on tour for that matter). But comparing this to a WTA match is a perfect analogy....very bad tennis.

Defensive player vs offensive player, both lacking match practise. What did you expect? It was not bad imo.

Neither player fit definitively into either of those roles today.

http://www.menstennisforums.com/photos/data/512/D_S2.jpg

Simon actually has great snap on his shots that he achieves with naturally good timing and torque. The problem is that he needs to stay very alert with his movement because if he starts to get jerked around and has to resort to pushing, then he loses. He always plays better when he's moving forward into the court. The injury he sustained in 2009, most likely from overplay after a really good 52 weeks of a lot of brutal tennis, really crippled his game and his confidence. I think he can get it back with enough match practice if he maintains optimism.

He has good timing, but as soon as he goes for broke he loses his accuracy, due to his lack of natural power. Its literally impossible for him to win that way.

He never got much of an oppurtunity to move forward against someone like Nalbandian anyway.

He has good timing, but as soon as he goes for broke he loses his accuracy, due to his lack of natural power. Its literally impossible for him to win that way.

He never got much of an oppurtunity to move forward against someone like Nalbandian anyway.

He had plenty of opportunities to do so today. In fact, had he not missed a ridiculous overhead at deuce in the middle of the second set, he might have walked out of this one in 2 sets.

He had plenty of opportunities to do so today. In fact, had he not missed a ridiculous overhead at deuce in the middle of the second set, he might have walked out of this one in 2 sets.

I doubt it. Nalbandian had found his timing by that point, the only thing keeping Simon in it was the occasional error.

Like I said, he will miss 75% of the time he goes for broke, unless its a REALLY short ball.

Simon should be banned from tennis. He brings his opponents level down, so regardless of whether he wins or loses the match is awful :o

Could tell both lacked match play but Dave played some good points and when he did he eventually overpowered Simon. Still have the typical Dave brainfarts but even with those and the error fest it is fun to watch Nalby - he makes tennis look like chess in motion (and THAT is true tennis).

Glad Dave is back. Hope his body which does look a bit fitter hold up through the USO.

what the hell were you watching? this was a nightmare

11 breaks of serve? come one thats embarassing:o
LOL.

So true.
Definitely not a horrible match. David brainfarted at the start and near the end of the third, but other than that it was really fun to watch.

Especially considering both of these players' lack of matchplay.
Yup. From the reports from their earlier matches, people were saying that these two were in by far the best form and that it's a shame it had to be a QF, and as soon as they play each other they collapse. :lol:
It's quite a stretch to call Simon a quality player...no idea how he beat Roddick(or anybody else on tour for that matter). But comparing this to a WTA match is a perfect analogy....very bad tennis.
I hope you are enjoying those sour grapes. :) Don't choke on them now..

Simon should be banned from tennis. He brings his opponents level down, so regardless of whether he wins or loses the match is awful :o
0uiJ5NKK4ns

totally.

Simon actually has great snap on his shots that he achieves with naturally good timing and torque. The problem is that he needs to stay very alert with his movement because if he starts to get jerked around and has to resort to pushing, then he loses. He always plays better when he's moving forward into the court. The injury he sustained in 2009, most likely from overplay after a really good 52 weeks of a lot of brutal tennis, really crippled his game and his confidence. I think he can get it back with enough match practice if he maintains optimism.
Pretty much, and he absorbs and redirects his opponent's power so well.

It's all about confidence and belief and right now he is doubting himself and it's reflecting in his tennis. Hopefully with more matches he will become more comfortable on court.

Pretty much, and he absorbs and redirects his opponent's power so well.

It's all about confidence and belief and right now he is doubting himself and it's reflecting in his tennis. Hopefully with more matches he will become more comfortable on court.

Isn't that what Murray does, except you hate him? :lol:

Isn't that what Murray does, except you hate him? :lol:

For some reason I like Simon a lot and I don't really like Murray

For some reason I like Simon a lot and I don't really like Murray

Probably has something to do with murray not being a likeable character and gilles' handsome looks

Not an impressive quality match overall, but when David stepped it up for patches, he was the better player. Simon was pretty much between average to well below average the entire match with flashes of greatness here and there. David was also poor for long stretches but had enough positive plays to counter that.

David had issues with Simon putting the ball back in the middle of the court with no pace. David was making errors trying to create angles that weren't there, over-hitting, and showing poor footwork. Whenever he got his footwork under control and had an aggressive mentality, he stepped up in the court and had too much weight of shot for Simon. Gilles made way too many errors for someone playing the game he does, his serve wasn't effective, his forehand (movement to the side, footwork, consistency, ability to hit winning shot, everything) was close to horrible, and he was fragile mentally. Very unimpressive performance from him.

A main positive of David tonight was his net game and movement, which both were nice. He's a better player when he has the mentality to be aggressive, hit through the ball, and finish points at the net.

Fatbandian losing steam already. :o

Happy to see Nalbandian doing well, since Argentines like Delpo and Pico are out due to injuries.

He played a solid match, not his best, but he still managed to beat Simon, and Simon is a very decent player.

David :yeah:

Nalby :D

H9-JVHYxKOs

H9-JVHYxKOs

Poetry to my eyes. Thank you, Habib! :) 1:03; 2:08 - 3:43; 6:41.

Obviously the highlights don't show the errors but Nalbandian looked really good in that clip.

Vamos David!
Wish I could watch it.

Not an impressive quality match overall, but when David stepped it up for patches, he was the better player. Simon was pretty much between average to well below average the entire match with flashes of greatness here and there. David was also poor for long stretches but had enough positive plays to counter that.

David had issues with Simon putting the ball back in the middle of the court with no pace. David was making errors trying to create angles that weren't there, over-hitting, and showing poor footwork. Whenever he got his footwork under control and had an aggressive mentality, he stepped up in the court and had too much weight of shot for Simon. Gilles made way too many errors for someone playing the game he does, his serve wasn't effective, his forehand (movement to the side, footwork, consistency, ability to hit winning shot, everything) was close to horrible, and he was fragile mentally. Very unimpressive performance from him.

A main positive of David tonight was his net game and movement, which both were nice. He's a better player when he has the mentality to be aggressive, hit through the ball, and finish points at the net.

I agree with you. It wasn`t a match of big quality and both players made a lot unforced mistakes and lost their serves easily several times. But the difference was that Simon looked more frustrated and nervous after David`s break of serve in the 2nd set. After that he could never recover the level of the 1st set. On the other hand David played with that situation and remained with a positive attitude the whole match. That was under my opinion the main reason Nalbandian won that match.

Big lol to all claiming this was a bad match

Those are probably tourist tennis watchers who's last match seen live was Nadal-Verdasco semi in AO2009...

For the rest watching tennis on a regular basis, this match was one of the few good ones quality wise.

If compared to Verdasco-Baghdatis, this one was the most epic battle ever in sports.....

In any case, it was normal for both to get tired in third set, from where all the ups and downs.
Bandy was trying to finish the points off a bit earlier and made some UEs, but most part were awesome winners, great touch and amazing volleys!

In different circumnstances, this one could have been between the N3 and the N9 in the world f.e.

Both could go up there with no doubt for me.

simon wanted it too much too quickly

I hope Gilles will take his revenge in the Davis Cup next month !

Big lol to all claiming this was a bad match

Those are probably tourist tennis watchers who's last match seen live was Nadal-Verdasco semi in AO2009...

For the rest watching tennis on a regular basis, this match was one of the few good ones quality wise.


:lol: :lol: :lol: :haha:

:lol: :lol: :lol: :haha:
razor sharp comment

proved me wrong

:worship:


:rolleyes:

First two sets were okay to good, 3rd set was just really average and filled with Simon hanging on while Nalbandian moved him around when he could be bothered, for a while Simon was only winning points off errors from Nalbandian. Can't believe anyone would try to hype it more than that.

First two sets were okay to good, 3rd set was just really average and filled with Simon hanging on while Nalbandian moved him around when he could be bothered, for a while Simon was only winning points off errors from Nalbandian. Can't believe anyone would try to hype it more than that.
no one is hyping it more than "that"

for me it's ridiculous to call the match terrible/horrible/whatever

if you watch Bghdatis - Malisse atm, you would apreciate the much better quality of Bandy-Simon

also compared to most matches in DC

no one is hyping it more than "that"

for me it's ridiculous to call the match terrible/horrible/whatever

if you watch Bghdatis - Malisse atm, you would apreciate the much better quality of Bandy-Simon

also compared to most matches in DC

Yeah. I'm guessing some people were expecting more because of both players' form going in.

That, and the fact that 50% of the posters here would dog Simon even if he played the best match of his life.

Leo actually described (and in the process) defended Simon's game at present pretty well earlier in the thread, so he doesn't just use smilies.

Is Nalbandian out to keep the USO title in Argentina? He's arguably the most talented player on tour without a major. I wouldn't mind if he did it. The time is certainly right, with his compatriot out, Federer potentially weak, and so many lame ducks in the top 10. But I doubt it.

He's an "amazing talent," except at the majors, especially when World Cup or something rolls around. And I wonder about his ability to hand a string of best-of-5 matches at this stage in his career. The USO really should be his best major. So often though he shows form leading up to a major or indoors and then checks out.

It would be great to see him make a run simply because he is a fine tennis player.