Nalbandian crashes out
Toronto, August 8:
Third-ranked David Nalbandian’s first tour appearance since Wimbledon lasted less than an hour in a 6-1, 6-2 loss to Italian qualifier Davide Sanguinetti at the Rogers Cup on Monday. No 4 Ivan Ljubicic defeated Nicolas Almagro of Spain 7-5, 6-1.
James Blake dispatched Canadian Philip Best 6-4, 6-1, and France’s Julien Benneteau ended a four-match losing streak since Wimbledon downing Marcos Baghdatis 5-7, 6-2, 6-3.
Fernando Gonzalez of Chile beat Robin Soderling of Sweden 6-3, 4-6, 6-2. Former Australian Open champ Thomas Johansson withstood 18 aces from Feliciano Lopez of Spain to win 5-7, 6-4, 6-3.
In a match between former French Open winners playing their first hardcourt match in almost five months, Carlos Moya accounted for Gaston Gaudio 6-1, 6-4. Tim Henman beat fellow veteran Jonas Bjorkman 6-2, 6-3.
Richard Gasquet beat French countryman Fabrice Santoro 6-4, 6-3, Jose Acasuso of Argentina prevailed against Bjorn Phau of Germany 7-5 , 7-6 (18), and Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny beat Britain’s Greg Rusedski 6-4, 6-2 to set up a second-round match with Tomas Berdych, a 6-4, 7-5 winner against Daniel Nestor of Canada.