Tennis: Nalbandian eases into Basel second round

BASEL, Switzerland - Argentine second seed David Nalbandian enjoyed a comfortable passage into the second round of the Swiss Indoors on Wednesday to maintain some pressure on world tennis number one and local favourite Roger Federer.

Nalbandian, who can only meet Federer in Sunday's final, defeated Croatian lucky loser Roko Karanusic 6-2 6-4 to set up a second round encounter with Spanish world number 80 Feliciano Lopez.

Defending champion and third seed Fernando Gonzalez also advanced after a surprisingly hard fought 7-6 6-7 7-6 win over Italian world number 124 Simone Bolelli.

Nalbandian made light work of the 179th-ranked Karanusic, with two breaks of serve in each set. The Argentine unnecessarily surrendered a service game while serving for the match at 5-2 but he made no mistake with his next opportunity and calmly finished off with an ace.

"I was playing very well until leading 3-0 in the second set," Nalbandian said. "Then I fell down a bit with my concentration but it was okay for a first round match."

Nalbandian has an added incentive for reaching Sunday's final as it will guarantee him a spot at the season-ending Masters Cup, where the Argentine is hoping to defend the title.

"The Masters Cup is a big motivation for me but it's going to be a long season since I also have the Davis Cup final after that," Nalbandian said.

"I made a great start to the year up until Wimbledon but then I got sick during Toronto and Cincinnati and lost ground. I'm feeling a lot fresher now though."

Looking less fresh after his defeat by Federer in last weekend's Madrid Masters final, Gonzalez needed more than 2-1/4 hours to beat the 21-year-old Bolelli who is still seeking his first career win on the ATP circuit.

"It was really tough adapting to the different balls and the different feel of the surface because I only got here on Monday and only had one hour to practise," said Gonzalez.

After a particularly shaky start in which Gonzalez was forced to defend two break points from his first three service games, the hard-hitting Chilean edged in front thanks to some unforced errors by Bolelli in the opening set tiebreak.

Having lost out 7-3 on that occasion, the Italian held his nerve to take the second tiebreak 7-2 but paid the price for his over-exuberance in the deciding set.

After taking Gonzalez to another tiebreak, Bolelli abandoned his baseline tactics in favour of a more attacking game plan.

The Italian came forward on both his first two service points and was twice passed to give Gonzalez a 4-0 lead, which the Chilean successfully converted into a 7-3 scoreline.

Although the Chilean cannot meet Federer before Sunday's final, he was already hoping to play the world number for the second time in as many weeks.

"He's just something else, he's two steps beyond the rest of us," said Gonzalez who lost all eight of his matches against Federer.

"It's tough but I have to believe I can beat him one day."

On a generally good day for Argentina, seventh seed Jose Acasuso and ninth seed Juan Ignacio Chela both progressed to the second round.

Acasuso defeated Spain's Albert Montanes 6-4 6-3 while Chela beat Italian Filippo Volandri 6-4 7-5.

There was no such joy for Argentine eighth seed Agustin Calleri, who was beaten 7-6 6-2 by Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka.

The 21-year-old from Lausanne continued an impressive start for the local favourites, following Federer and wild card George Bastl into the last 16.

Britain's Tim Henman, a winner here in 1998 and 2001, will face Wawrinka in the second round after booking his own berth with a comfortable 6-2 6-3 win over Belgium's Christophe Rochus.

- REUTERS