Nalbandian triumphs after hip surgery by winning in D.C.

Argentina’s Nalbandian became the first player ranked outside the top 100 to win an ATP title in 2010, using his typically strong service returns and effective baseline game to beat No. 25 Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus 6-2, 7-6 (4) on Sunday in a Legg Mason final between two past Grand Slam finalists.

It’s Nalbandian’s 11th career title, but his first on U.S. soil, and first anywhere in 1½ years. He hadn’t entered a tournament since April, sidelined by a bad left hamstring. Before that, Nalbandian missed nearly 10 months starting in May 2009 because of hip surgery.

Now the 2002 Wimbledon runner-up is back on tour and back to giving opponents fits, particularly with his returning. He broke four of the first seven times Baghdatis served.

Baghdatis had a chance to extend the match while leading 6-5 in the second set. He held a set point at 30-40 on Nalbandian’s serve, but put a forehand into the net on a 10-stroke exchange. Nalbandian eventually held serve there, then surged to a 5-0 lead in the tiebreaker.

Nalbandian had problems with his serve throughout the second set, and he hit his seventh double-fault of the day on his first match point. But Baghdatis missed a forehand on the next point to end the match after 1 hour, 59 minutes.

Nalbandian has reached at least the semifinals five times at major championships, and was ranked as high as No. 3. But all of the recent time off, including skipping the past six Grand Slam tournaments, contributed to a slide down the rankings that dropped him to 161st.

He’s climbing his way up, expected to return to the top 50 on Monday. The unseeded Nalbandian was impressive all week, winning 12 of 13 sets while upsetting four seeded players: No. 4 Marin Cilic, No. 7 Stanislas Wawrinka, No. 13 Gilles Simon, and No. 8 Baghdatis, who lost to Roger Federer in the 2006 Australian Open final.

‘Don’t cry for this Argentinian’, he’s back to stay!

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.

Baghdatis awaits the winner of the Cilic/Nalbandian match.

Marcos Baghdatis is back up to 25th and will keep climbing thanks to his showing in Washington.

I worked on my fitness. I had to improve my physical condition, stay out of injuries… I worked very hard,” he said.

“I’m fit now, I’m healthy, and that’s the most important thing.”

He has reached the final of the Legg Mason Classic in Washington with a 6-2 7-6 win over Xavier Malisse.

The Cypriot eighth seed lost his serve only once and capitalised on numerous unforced errors by Malisse to reach his first final in the United States.

Baghdatis is chasing his second ATP title of the year, having won the Sydney International back in January.

He will either fourth seed Marin Cilic of Croatia or David Nalbandian of Argentina in Sunday’s final.

After easing through the first set, Baghdatis found Malisse, who beat top seed Tomas Berdych in the quarter-finals, a tougher proposition in the second.

It took the Cypriot until the 11th game to break him again, as Malisse punched a forehand wide to give the 25th-ranked Baghdatis a 6-5 lead.

But Malisse came through when it mattered, breaking Baghdatis in the next game to force a tiebreaker.

The Cypriot raced to a 6-1 lead in the tiebreaker and won it 7-4 when Malisse netted a backhand.

Once as high as eighth in the world rankings, former Australian Open finalist Baghdatis fell out of the top 100 after a series of injuries.

Andy Roddick could drop out of the top ten for the first time in 6 years.

Three-time champion Andy Roddick was beaten in the third round of the Legg Mason Tennis Classic as top seed Tomas Berdych progressed in Washington.

Second seed Andy Roddick – winner of the event in 2001, 2005 and 2007 – suffered a 6-3 6-3 loss to 13th seed Gilles Simon in one hour nine minutes.

Berdych had no such trouble, progressing to the last eight by defeating Andrey Golubev, the 16th seed, 6-3 5-7 7-5.

Wimbledon runner-up Berdych will now meet Xavier Malisse in the quarter-finals after the Belgian beat John Isner 6-4 3-6 7-6 (7/5).

Simon will meet David Nalbandian in the last eight.

Nalbandian recorded a 6-1 6-0 win over Marco Chiudinelli in 44 minutes.

Third seed Fernando Verdasco claimed a 6-4 7-5 win over qualifier Ryan Sweeting and will next face Marcos Baghdatis.

Eighth seed Baghdatis defeated Illya Marchenko 6-3 6-7 (5/7) 6-3.

Fourth seed Marin Cilic will meet Janko Tipsarevic next.

Cilic claimed a 6-4 4-6 6-2 win over Mardy Fish in two hours 16 minutes, while Tipsarevic defeated Alejandro Falla 6-3 6-4.

Querrey, Hewitt, Gulbis all out in D.C.

Tomas Berdych won his first match since losing the Wimbledon final to Rafael Nadal at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington.

Berdych claimed a 7-6 (7/2) 4-6 6-1 win over Dmitry Tursunov in two hours 17 minutes in his first competitive action since reaching his first grand slam final.

Berdych will next face Andrey Golubev, the 16th seed, who beat Kristof Vliegen 6-2 7-6 (9/7).

Wildcard David Nalbandian claimed a 6-1 6-3 win over seventh seed Stanislas Wawrinka in one hour eight minutes to progress to join Berdych in the third round.

Four other seeds joined Wawrinka in being eliminated in the second round.

Sixth seed Sam Querrey, ninth seed Ernests Gulbis, 10th seed Radek Stepanek and 11th seed Lleyton Hewitt were all ousted from the tournament.

Janko Tipsarevic claimed a 7-6 (7/3) 6-3 win over Querrey to set up a third-round contest with Alejandro Falla, while Marco Chiudinelli defeated Stepanek 6-1 6-3 and will next meet Nalbandian.

Gulbis and Hewitt both retired.

Illya Marchenko was leading Gulbis 6-1 1-0 when the Latvian retired due to the heat, while a right calf injury accounted for Hewitt while the Australian was trailing Falla 7-5 3-2.

Marchenko will next face eighth seed Marcos Baghdatis, who defeated Horacio Zeballos 7-6 (7/3) 7-6 (7/5).

Roddick,Isner & Fish all move thru in D.C.

Andy Roddick progressed from the second round of the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington with a straight-sets victory.

Second seed Roddick defeated qualifier Grega Zemlja 6-4 6-4 in one hour 24 minutes as he seeks to add to his victories at the tournament in 2001, 2005 and 2007.

Third seed Fernando Verdasco was pushed hard by Michael Berrer in a 4-6 7-5 7-6 (8/6) win, achieved in two hours 41 minutes.

Marin Cilic, the fourth seed, had a slightly easier passage to the third round, beating Denis Istomin 6-4 6-2.

Fifth seed John Isner prevailed 7-6 (10/8) 7-6 (10/8) over Thiemo de Bakker in one hour 48 minutes in a match which did not feature a break of serve.

Mardy Fish, the 15th seed, beat Viktor Troicki 6-4 6-3, but two other seeds were ousted in the second round.

Xavier Malisse claimed a 7-5 6-4 win over 12th seed Julien Benneteau, while qualifier Ryan Sweeting – a first-round winner over former winner James Blake – continued his giant-killing run with a 6-4 6-2 defeat of 14th seed Michael Llodra.

Gilles Simon, the 13th seed, beat qualifier Igor Kunitsyn 6-1 6-2 in 52 minutes.

Isner and Roddick confirmed for Legg Mason Classic.

A month after making tennis history at Wimbledon, American John Isner will return to Washington this summer to compete in his fourth Legg Mason Tennis Classic.

Isner, ranked 19th in the world, beat Nicolas Mahut in an 11-hour 5-minute marathon played over three days at the All England club, ending at 70-68 in the fifth set to easily become the longest match in tennis history. As a wild card in the 2007 Legg Mason Tennis Classic, Isner set an ATP record of five third-set tiebreak matches en route to the final.

Organizers of the annual hard-court tournament are expected to announce the final list of player commitments Monday. Isner, 25, is set to join top-ranked American Andy Roddick, a three-time Legg Mason champion (he won in 2001, 2005 and against Isner in 2007), as well as world No. 6 Robin Soderling, a two-time French Open finalist.