VIENNA, 16 October 2004 — Top seed David Nalbandian held off a spirited late challenge by Stefan Koubek to reach the quarterfinals of the Vienna Trophy on Thursday. The Argentine eventually won 6-2, 7-6, but was forced to save a set point after appearing to be well in control of his match against the Austrian left-hander.
Nalbandian dominated the opening set with his big forehand, breaking Koubek in his opening three service games and then again to lead 1-0 in the second.
He went on to earn a match point at 5-4 but made a forehand error, allowing an energized Koubek to break to level at 5-5 after Nalbandian double-faulted and then made another forehand error.
Nalbandian then staved off a set point at 6-5 with a winning forehand, before edging through the tiebreak and claiming victory on his third match point. “I had a match point at 5-4 but I made a simple mistake, and then the crowd was incredible,” Nalbandian said. “But in the tiebreak I focused on my game and played very well.”
It was a good day for most of the leading players as second seed Nicolas Massu, sixth seed Guillermo Canas and eighth seed Feliciano Lopez all won in straight sets, while third seed Rainer Schuettler defeated Luis Horna 7-5, 4-6, 6-3. However, No. 5 seed Paradorn Srichaphan had a day to forget when he was crushed 6-2, 6-1 by Robby Ginepri as the Thai struggled to find any sort of rhythm from the outset. He double-faulted on the first point, dropped his serve to 15 and had to fight off three break points at 3-1.
His only opportunity to turn the match around came in the sixth game when he held four break points, but when Ginepri held serve, the Thai gave a rare show of frustration by swiping the ground with his racket.
“Nothing was going right,” Paradorn said. “I was not really focused in the match and was thinking too much about the way he was playing. I was kind of rushing too much, trying to finish the point. I should have worked the ball more.”
Nalbandian will play Canas in an all-Argentinean clash for a place in the semifinals, while the other quarterfinals are Massu against Davide Sanguinetti, Schuettler taking on Lopez and Tommy Haas versus Ginepri.
Bovina Dumps Venus Out of Kremlin Cup
In Moscow, Russia’s Elena Bovina crushed former world No. 1 Venus Williams in straight sets to advance to the semifinals of the Kremlim Cup WTA event here yesterday.
Williams, the seventh seed, was playing in her first tournament since the US Open, but was out of sorts against the unseeded Russian, hitting 10 double faults and 29 unforced errors on a way to a 6-3, 6-2 loss.
However, Lindsay Davenport, who has regained the world No. 1 ranking, cruised comfortably into the semifinals with a straight sets win over Francesca Schiavone of Italy.
Second seed Davenport, who is seeking her eighth title this year, won her first match with Schiavone 6-4, 6-1.
Bovina’s shock victory puts her into her third semifinal of the season.
The 19-year-old will face the winner of the quarterfinal between Elena Dementieva and US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova.
The other quarterfinal sees Vera Zvonareva take on fellow Russian Anastasia Myskina. “My serve wasn’t there the way I wanted it to be today,” said four-time Grand Slam winner Williams.
Bovina said: “I wouldn’t say it was easy. I opened well and my task was not to allow her to get into her game. I did it.”
