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David enters the land of Lindt. Can he tune his game to Swiss precision in Basel?

7K views 146 replies 12 participants last post by  camilia 
#1 ·
The draw was released not long ago:
(1) Roger Federer (SUI) vs Bobby Reynolds (USA)
Eduardo Schwank (ARG) vs Jarkko Nieminen (FIN)
Marcel Granollers (ESP) vs Marcos Baghdatis (CYP)
Simone Bolelli (ITA) vs (7) Tomas Berdych (CZE)

(4) James Blake (USA) vs Nicolas Kiefer (GER)
Oscar Hernandez (ESP) vs Tommy Haas (GER)
Feliciano Lopez (ESP) vs (WC) Marco Chiudinelli (SUI)
Agustin Calleri (ARG) vs (8) Mardy Fish (USA)

(6) Igor Andreev (RUS) vs Jurgen Melzer (AUT)
Denis Gremelmayr (GER) vs Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER)
Jose Acasuso (ARG) vs (WC) Stephane Bohli (SUI)
QUALIFIER vs (3) Juan Martin Del Potro (ARG)

(5) Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI) vs QUALIFIER
QUALIFIER vs Nicolas Devilder (FRA)
QUALIFIER vs (WC) Philipp Petzschner
Albert Montanes (ESP) vs (2) David Nalbandian (ARG)

David should be able to get the better of Montanes indoors you would have thought, and a 2nd round match against the recently crowned Vienna champion Petzschner could await.
Of course he won't be happy at being drawn in the same quarter as Wawrinka, who owns him on a leash and is a nightmare match-up for him. Wawrinka knocked David out of this tournament both last year and also in 2006, so an unwanted hat-trick could be on the cards.
Along with Barcelona, BA and Estoril, Basel ranks as one of my favourite optional ATP events.
 
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#2 ·
Wawrinka in his quarter...that's bad!!
Hope he can reach final rounds, or better, win it so he can gain some points and get a reasonable chance of ending the year inside the top 10 :angel:
I know that many people don't care about ranking, but I don't know, for some reason I do. May be coz it adds to his achievements when he ends many years inside the top 10?!!

Anyway best of luck to David :)
 
#3 ·
Wawrinka in his quarter...that's bad!!
Hope he can reach final rounds, or better, win it so he can gain some points and get a reasonable chance of ending the year inside the top 10 :angel:
I know that many people don't care about ranking, but I don't know, for some reason I do. May be coz it adds to his achievements when he ends many years inside the top 10?!!

Anyway best of luck to David :)
Staying in Top 10 will most probably require at least a final in Paris or a SF in Paris and a final in Basel . :eek:
 
#5 ·
Count me among those that aren't too bothered with ranking, although I would like him to stay in the top 20.

A match against Petschzner would be interesting. I didn't manage to see a single match of his during his Vienna title win so I have no clue how much of a threat he poses. Wawrinka has the chance to extend his head-to-head against David and make it even more dominant than it already is.

I hope this event will be broadcast on the Eurosport website like it was the last couple of years.
 
#8 ·
Count me among those that aren't too bothered with ranking, although I would like him to stay in the top 20.

A match against Petschzner would be interesting. I didn't manage to see a single match of his during his Vienna title win so I have no clue how much of a threat he poses. Wawrinka has the chance to extend his head-to-head against David and make it even more dominant than it already is.

I hope this event will be broadcast on the Eurosport website like it was the last couple of years.
First time I noticed Petzschner was in DC Germany vs Spain in doubles. I was quite surprised with his net skills, reachability, good serve and slice. He can be dangerous opponent, but if David takes this seriously he will beat him. And Wawrinka...agrhhh, I don't wanna go there, one of the worst match ups for David.:eek:
 
#9 ·
Program for October 21th, 2008

CENTER COURT

13:00
Tomas Berdych, CZE - Simone Bolelli, ITA

14:45
David Nalbandian, ARG - Albert Montanes, ESP


followed by
George Bastl, SUI - Juan M. Del Potro, ARG

18.45
Roger Federer, SUI - B. Reynolds, USA

followed by
Stephane Bohli, SUI - José Acasuso, ARG
 
#10 ·
David will also be playing doubles with Edu tomorrow. Their first round opponents are Petzschner and Peya.
Luli keep doing all those good experiments. ;) Is anyone keeping notes as to what combos were already tried?
 
#16 ·
Watched it entirely. Albert was decent opponent until 3:3. David tried to pressure him in the 7th game but he failed, he was just trying to left an aggressive mark and tune his returns I guess. In the ninth game he repeated it and he did it in his style, couple of aggressive return winners and 0:40 in a matter of seconds. He kept the momentum and did the same in the opening game in the first set and later again braked Montanes serve after with the same pressure *0:40. Albert saved few BP's during the course of the match but the defeat was inevitable. David is in a same level as he was in Stockholm and Madrid, only this is kinda faster surface (from Madrid) and he could not sneak to net fast enough. Ground-strokes and angles are working well, BH deep and accurate, he is kinda late on footwork for his FH so it varies a bit, first serve very good but inconsistent and second serve quite bad, he even managed to serve 2 DFs in the same game.
 
#17 · (Edited)
Watched it entirely. Albert was decent opponent until 3:3. David tried to pressure him in the 7th game but he failed, he was just trying to left an aggressive mark and tune his returns I guess. In the ninth game he repeated it and he did it in his style, couple of aggressive return winners and 0:40 in a matter of seconds. He kept the momentum and did the same in the opening game in the first set and later again braked Montanes serve after with the same pressure *0:40. Albert saved few BP's during the course of the match but the defeat was inevitable. David is in a same level as he was in Stockholm and Madrid, only this is kinda faster surface (from Madrid) and he could not sneak to net fast enough. Ground-strokes and angles are working well, BH deep and accurate, he is kinda late on footwork for his FH so it varies a bit, first serve very good but inconsistent and second serve quite bad, he even managed to serve 2 DFs in the same game.
I thought it was rather unimpressive. His timing seemed kind of off and his returns were inconsistent. Loved the total lack of concentration in the last game with the 2 aces, 2 double faults.
 
#19 ·
And their H2H is 0:1 for Vliegen. It was in Barselona, in 2004 7-6(1) 6-4 and what I remember from that one is that Vliegen did not even played that good, David was simply worse.
 
#20 ·
Thursday OoP

CENTER COURT

Matches Start At: 13:00
Kristof VLIEGEN (BEL) vs David NALBANDIAN (ARG)


Not Before 14:45
James BLAKE (USA) vs Oscar HERNANDEZ (ESP)

Not Before 16:45
Stephane BOHLI (SUI) vs Juan Martin DEL POTRO (ARG)

Not Before 18:45
Roger FEDERER (SUI) vs Jarkko NIEMINEN (FIN)

followed by
James BLAKE (USA)/Bobby REYNOLDS (USA) vs Jose ACASUSO (ARG)/Agustin CALLERI (ARG)
 
#21 ·
So there goes Petschzner. I haven't seen Vliegen play in ages (I think not since Monte Carlo/Rome last year). I remember him having a pretty good season in 2006. That match he played against Hewitt in Davis Cup last year is one of the most memorable matches I've seen, maybe more so for the drama than the tennis. I kind of like his awkward game, it would be nice to see him play. I'd say with it being scheduled early, there will probably be much fewer live streaming options than last time though.
 
#24 ·
Unnecessary complicated things, he should have been 5-0 up in the first, and those more than few FHs hitting at bottom of the net were not very helpful. Good that he managed to clinch the set in 10th game.
 
#25 ·
4-3* in the second. Time for shifting a gear up?
 
#27 ·
Not good enough. *4-4
 
#28 ·
Broken 5-6* :mad: Very bad game.
 
#31 ·
1 set all. 2 BP chances to get back in the set blown. Plus a warning for racquet abuse. Not looking good. He practically lost every FH CC exchange.
 
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