David Nalbandian drops out of Shanghai Rolex Masters

PanARMENIAN.Net - David Nalbandian lost 6-3, 6-4 to Germany’s Florian Mayer in the second round of the Shanghai Rolex Masters on Tuesday Oct 11 afternoon. Mayer, now 41-23 for the year and a recent champion in Bucharest, earned four breaks and advanced in just one hour and 14 minutes.

The first game of the match was a sign of things to come, with Mayer breaking when his opponent netted a forehand. Nalbandian struggled all day long both on serve and from the baseline, reduced to near-hopelessness when he had to toss in a second serve. The Argentine won a mere eight of 28 second-serve points, including three of 16 in the opening set.

Mayer raced to a 4-0 lead and although he failed to serve things out at 5-2, he had no trouble seizing his third break of the day one game later.

Nalbandian raised his level slightly in the second, holding his first four service games with ease. The world No. 57 even had a look at deuce on Mayer's serve at 4-4, but the German took care of two straight points to hold. Out of almost nowhere, Nalbandian promptly reverted back to his first-set ways while serving to stay in the match at 4-5. Mayer broke at love to clinch victory, mainly thanks to a pair of backhand errors from Nalbandian and one double-fault.

Mayer, who won 83 percent of his first-serve points, awaits the winner of an all-Spanish clash between Rafael Nadal and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, Tennistalk reported.