Madrid Masters (2nd Round)

Davydenko, Ferrer Slip Up; Nalbandian To Face Del Potro

Fifth seed Nikolay Davydenko saw his hopes of qualifying for Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai take a hit in Madrid on Wednesday as American qualifier Robby Ginepri, ranked No. 63, scored a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 second round win. It is the Russian's worst loss since falling to World No. 130 Gilles Muller in the US Open fourth round.

Davydenko started the week at No. 5 in the ATP 2008 Race with 417 points. With four qualification spots remaining, the 27-year-old is bidding to secure his place at the circuit finale for the fourth straight year.

Ginepri, who celebrated his 26th birthday last week, is through to the third round of an ATP Masters Series event for the first time since Paris in 2006 (l. to Berdych). The right-hander reached three consecutive ATP semifinals at Delray Beach (l. to Blake), San Jose (l. to Stepanek) and Las Vegas (l. to Anderson) earlier in the season and has a 24-17 match record.


For the second straight year in Madrid, World No. 5 David Ferrer suffered an upset in his opening match against fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez. The 40th-ranked Lopez converted his two break point chances to oust Ferrer, 6-4, 7-6(4) and improve to a 4-3 record against Top 10 players this season (17-34 lifetime). He next awaits the winner between top seed Rafael Nadal and No. 15 seed Richard Gasquet.

Ferrer had entered Madrid at No. 7 in the ATP 2008 Race, leading his nearest competitors in the standings – Juan Martin del Potro and James Blake – by less than 30 points. The 26-year-old Spaniard made his Tennis Masters Cup debut last year and reached the final (l. to Federer).

"Tennis is like that, sometimes you win and you don't know why and sometimes you feel you cannot win against anybody," said Ferrer, who has gone 6-7 since reaching his last ATP semifinal in July at Bastad. "Right now I don't feel like I am close to the best players."

Meanwhile, Shanghai contender Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland battled his way into the third round with a 3-6, 7-5, 7-6(5) win over German Philipp Kohlschreiber in two hours and 32 minutes. Wawrinka, who reached his first ATP Masters Series final in May at Rome, is No. 10 in the Race with 286 points.

Defending champion and this year’s seventh seed David Nalbandian (pictured above) of Argentina escaped a mid-match slip-up to prevail against Czech Tomas Berdych 6-2, 6-7(5) 6-1 and reach the third round.

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The Cordoba resident captured the title last year with three straight victories over No. 2 Rafael Nadal, No. 3 Novak Djokovic and No. 1 Roger Federer, becoming the third player since 1994 to defeat the world's top three players in consecutive matches. The 26-year-old, who was also a runner-up in 2004 (l. to Safin), improved to a 19-4 event record.

"I think it went well," said Nalbandian. "I played a good match. At the beginning of the second set, I lost control of ball and my timing was off. After that, I played at a great level. In general, I´m very happy with my performance today."

Nalbandian, who defeated Berdych at this stage last year, faces a similar road to the quarterfinals this week with ninth seed and Davis Cup team mate Juan Martin del Potro once again awaiting him in an all-Argentine third round clash.

Del Potro, who advanced when Jarkko Nieminen retired trailing 6-4, 4-2, reflected on last year's loss to the eventual champion: "He had a great level and my level was good too. But, my level is even better this year. It will be a difficult match, it's always difficult to play against him, but I have faith in myself and I'll try to do my best."

The 20-year-old del Potro strengthened his claim on one of the remaining four places at Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai. The Tandil resident, who has won four ATP titles this season, began the week at No. 8 in the ATP 2008 Race, with 312 points.

"[It's going to be] difficult," said Nalbandian of the match-up with del Potro. "He's been playing very well this year. He's demonstrated his potential, so I will be expecting a very hard match. One has to play their best in order to win."

Fernando Gonzalez missed a chance to make up some ground in the ATP 2008 Race as Frenchman Gael Monfils defeated the Chilean No. 12 seed in a 6-3, 6-4 victory. Bidding to qualify for Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai for the third time, Gonzalez began the week at No. 11 in the Race, just three points behind No. 10 Stanislas Wawrinka.

Monfils is enjoying a career-high South African Airways ATP Ranking of No. 18 after reaching the Vienna final last week, where he defeated Gonzalez in the quarterfinals before losing to Petzschner; he was also a semifinalist in Bangkok two weeks before (l. to Tsonga) and at Roland Garros in June (l. to Federer).