TENNIS in DEPTH.

David Nalbandian, who is playing in his first tournament since April, is making quite a comeback. Three years ago he was a top 5 player before being cut down by injury.

The 117th-ranked Nalbandian overwhelmed No. 13 Marin Cilic 6-2, 6-2 at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic on Saturday night to reach his first ATP final in 1 1/2 years.

“I’ve been playing well all week,” Nalbandian said. “I wish that the announcers at ESPN could for once get their terminology right. I am an Argentinian from Argentina! Not the talented Argentine! Please take note Patrick McEnroe!

He lost his serve in the semifinal’s first game, getting broken when he dumped a forehand into the net. But he immediately broke right back when Cilic double-faulted, starting a stretch in which Nalbandian won nine of 10 games, including seven in a row, while dominating from the baseline.

On point after point, Nalbandian would cover the court well enough to extend a rally until Cilic would make a mistake. There were moments when Cilic appeared to be bothered by his right leg, and he double-faulted to hand over a match point, then ended the match putting a backhand into the net.

It was the latest in a string of impressive performances at the hard-court tournament by the unseeded Nalbandian, whose victory over the No. 4-seeded Cilic followed wins against No. 7-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka and No. 13-seeded Gilles Simon.

Bookmark It

The upsets continued at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington on Friday as top seed Tomas Berdych and Fernando Verdasco were bundled out of the tournament.

Belgian Xavier Malisse recorded a 6-4 3-6 6-2 quarter-final win in two hours 10 minutes over Berdych, who joined second seed Andy Roddick in exiting the tournament.

Third seed Verdasco was also ousted, losing 7-6 (7/3) 6-4 to Marco Baghdatis, the eighth seed.

Even Bob and Mike Bryan lost in the second round of the doubles!

Less than a week after winning their record 62nd ATP doubles title, the second-seeded Bryans were beaten 7-6 (6), 7-5 Friday by the unseeded pair of Rohan Bopanna of India and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan.

Baghdatis and Malisse will meet in the last four.

The second semi-final will be between David Nalbandian and Marin Cilic.

Nalbandian defeated 13th seed Gilles Simon – the conqueror of second seed Roddick – 3-6 6-2 6-3.

Cilic claimed a 7-6 (7/4) 6-4 win over Janko Tipsarevic in a match which saw a solitary break of serve.

Bookmark It

Marin Cilic became the first big-name casualty of Wimbledon 2010 when he lost in the first round, but Nikolay Davydenko narrowly avoided joining him through the exit door.

The 11th-seeded Croat, a semi-finalist at this year’s Australian Open and rated as a dark horse by some in SW19, slumped to a straight-sets defeat at the hands of Florian Mayer.

The German triumphed 6-2 6-4 7-6 (7/1) at the All England Club.

Mayer reached the quarter-finals on his Wimbledon debut back in 2004 and will be hopeful of another good run after this result.

Davydenko, meanwhile, had to dig deep before finally seeing off Kevin Anderson in a five-set thriller which lasted more than four hours.

The Russian enjoyed his last visit to London – he won the ATP World Tour Finals at the O2 Arena last November – but it appeared his return was turning sour when he fell two sets down to the big-serving South African, who finished with 36 aces.

Davydenko only recently returned to the tour after suffering a broken wrist earlier in the year and he looked a little rusty in the opening exchanges.

But he showed plenty of character to turn the match round, much to the delight of the crowd on Court One, and he recovered to post a 3-6 6-7 (3/7) 7-6 (7/3) 7-5 9-7 victory.

Novak Djokovic recovered from an early onslaught by Olivier Rochus and a mid-match closing of the Centre Court roof to book his place in the Wimbledon second round on Monday.

Djokovic, who trailed 3-1 in career meetings against the feisty 5-ft-5 Belgian, looked set for an early exit after Rochus’s crisp groundstrokes and shrewd shot placement gave him a two sets to one lead.

But Djokovic seemed reinvigorated once fading light prompted the closure of the roof after the third set and clinched the fourth before going on to seal a 4-6 6-2 3-6 6-4 6-2 triumph.

The Serb will play American Taylor Dent in the second round.

Bookmark It

Robin Soderling and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga both wasted little time in winning their second-round matches at the French Open on Wednesday.

Last year’s beaten finalist Soderling was most impressive in dispatching a bewildered Taylor Dent 6-0 6-1 6-1.

Dent’s big serve was totally ineffective as Soderling broke it eight times.

A series of Dent double faults in the first set – which was over in just 17 minutes – set the tone and he was totally outclassed by his Swedish foe.

The match lasted just 71 minutes as Soderling progressed to the last 32.

Eighth seed Tsonga needed eight minutes more to see off his French compatriot Josselin Ouanna and join Soderling in round three.

The 2008 Australian Open runner-up blasted 41 winners during his 6-0 6-1 6-4 demolition of the wild card.

Seeds Marin Cilic (10) and Mikhail Youzhny (11) also progressed early on Wednesday.

Cilic was a straight-sets winner over Daniel Gimeno-Traver, while Youzhny fought back from a set down to beat Lukas Lacko in four.

Bookmark It

Mikhail Youzhny reached his third straight BMW Open final where he will face Marin Cilic after the pair posted semi-final victories over Philipp Petzschner and Marcos Baghdatis respectively.

Youzhny advanced with a 7-5 7-6 (7/5) victory over German Petzschner while Cilic came from a set down to overcome Baghdatis 3-6 6-2 6-3.

Russian Youzhny will hope to win the title in Munich for the first time after twice finishing runner-up at the clay-court tournament.

The second seed, who finished runner-up to Philipp Kohlschreiber in 2007 and again to Tomas Berdych last year, needed one hour and 43 minutes to edge past Petzschner.

Petzschner, ranked 45 in the world, twice led by a break in the first set but Youzhny recovered immediately each time before breaking in the 11th game for a one-set lead.

Neither player broke in the second set and Youzhny secured victory in the subsequent tie-break.

Top seed Cilic needed two and a quarter hours to book his place in the final.

Baghdatis served two more aces than his Croatian opponent with Cilic also producing two double faults, but the world number 11 was more effective in his all-round play.

Baghdatis, ranked 31 in the world, could only take one of nine break-point chances as Cilic eased away to victory.

Bookmark It

Marin Cilic became the first player into the third round of the Monte Carlo Masters with a battling win over Russia’s Igor Andreev.

Croatian Cilic, one of eight top seeds to receive a first-round bye, was caught cold in the first set as Andreev won on a tie-break, but rallied for a 6-7 (4/7) 6-1 6-4 triumph in two hours and 51 minutes.

Sixth seed Fernando Verdasco also moved into round three with a one-sided win over Frenchman Julien Benneteau.

Spaniard Verdasco forced five breaks of serve as he eased to a 6-2 6-1 triumph in just 74 minutes.

Today’s remaining second-round ties see fifth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga take on Nicolas Almagro and 10th seed Tomas Berdych meet Richard Gasquet.

In first-round action, 12th seed Tommy Robredo of Spain was a 6-3 6-3 winner over Horacio Zeballos of Argentina, while Stanislas Wawrinka, the 13th seed from Switzerland, beat Romania’s Victor Hanescu 6-2 6-4.

Fifteenth seed Jurgen Melzer of Austria defeated Paul-Henri Mathieu of France 6-3 6-2, while Thiemo de Bakker of Holland set up a second-round clash with second seed and reigning champion Rafael Nadal with a 6-3 7-5 victory over Eduardo Schwank of Argentina.

Florent Serra will face top seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia in round two after emerging with a 7-6 (8/6) 3-6 6-4 victory from his all-French encounter with Stephane Robert, while fellow Frenchman Michael Llodra is also through after beating Italy’s Fabio Fognini 6-3 6-3.

Bookmark It

Marin Cilic claimed his 20th match win of the year with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis on Monday at the Sony Ericsson Open.

Cilic next faces 10th-seeded Spaniard Fernando Verdasco, who rallied past Austrian Jurgen Melzer 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-1. Melzer failed to capitalize on his five break point opportunities in the second set, allowing Verdasco to come back and claim the victory in just over two hours.

After accounting for defending champion Andy Murray in the second round, American Mardy Fish continued his progress at the Sony Ericsson Open by posting a 7-5, 6-3 win over 29th-seeded Spaniard Feliciano Lopez. Fish saved both break points he faced and has dropped serve just twice in three matches.

He will need to knock off his third seeded opponent, Russian Mikhail Youzhny, in order to reach the quarter-finals. The No. 13 seed recovered from a slow start to oust Switzerland’s Stanislas Wawrinka 1-6, 7-6(5), 7-5.

Fernando Gonzalez earned a chance to play Sweden’s Robin Soderling for the first time since their five-set tussle in the Roland Garros semi-finals. The ninth-seeded Chilean defeated Argentine Juan Monaco 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-2 in two hours and 21 minutes, improving to a perfect 6-0 record against last week’s Indian Wells quarter-finalist.

Meanwhile, Roland Garros finalist Soderling needed just 65 minutes to dismiss German Philipp Petzschner 6-1, 6-2 in his third-round match. The World No. 7 reached his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 semi-final last week in Indian Wells before falling to Andy Roddick.

Bookmark It

Marin Cilic (my pick to win it all!)became the first biggest casualty in the men’s draw as he fell to Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 7-6(1), 6-0. After failing to serve out the opening set, Cilic managed to win just 13 more points the rest of the match.

It was Cilic’s earliest exit this season, after beginning the year with a circuit-best 18-2 mark. He had defended his titles at Chennai and Zagreb, reached the semi-finals at the Australian Open and quarter-finals in Dubai.

Vera Zvonareva was seeded to meet  Ana Ivanovic in the third round, but saw  Ivanovic lose 6-2, 6-4 to #63 ranked Latvian Anastasija Sevastova. 

Playing her first competitive match in over a month, Ivanovic was badly out of form. She never found her rhythm and made a host of unforced errors almost whenever she went on the offensive. Her serve was similarly poor.Sevastova, who beat world No.9 Jelena Jankovic in Monterrey last week, did an excellent job of capitalising on Ana’s stuttering performance. She broke the 24th seed at the first time of asking and added another break later in the set.

“I felt like I was tracking the ball well, but it was very, very slow,” said Ivanovic. “I miss-hit a lot of the balls. I also thought she couldn’t really hurt me with anything, but I also couldn’t finish the point. So it was kind of frustrating. It was a fight out there. I’m just disappointed I didn’t find the answers. Had a lot of opportunities, I think.”

If Ivanovic continues to lose in tournament after tournament in the first or second round, she might get a call from Adidas asking for their money back!

They are paying for product exposure, and she’s certainly not giving them any.

Bookmark It