Nalbandian improved to 3-0 against Cilic, including a
semifinal victory in Washington in August, which he won when ranked 117th and
returning from injury. A sore left hamstring followed a 10-month absence after
hip surgery.
“It was a very strange year,” said Nalbandian, who turns 29
on Jan. 1 and has been out of the top 10 since February 2009. “That is one of
the goals for next year. I'm just trying to play as well as I can.” The
29th-ranked Argentine mixed accurate serving and strong groundstrokes against
Cilic, clinching the win on his first match point with a powerful forehand.
Nalbandian, the 2002 Basel champion and a three-time
runner-up, next faces either fourth-seeded Andy Roddick of the United States or
Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan, who played later Thursday.
Czech wild card Radek Stepanek earned a quarterfinal match
against Roger Federer by beating Santiago Giraldo of Colombia 3-6, 6-2, 6-0.
Richard Gasquet of France won 6-4, 7-5 against Germany's
Tobias Kamke, a lucky loser in qualifying who eliminated third-seeded Tomas
Berdych in the first round.
Gasquet has a last-eight match against Viktor Troicki of
Serbia, who got a walkover win when Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu withdrew
citing a knee injury.
