Nalbandian, Johansson into second round at China Open
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-09-13 21:10

Third seed David Nalbandian stormed into the second round of the China Open ATP tournament by beating Dane Kristian Pless 6-3, 7-6 (2) here on Tuesday.

The Argentinean lost his second serve before stepping up a gear to snatch the first set.

Apparently out of strength, he then survived four set points to pull the match into a tiebreaker.

"I didn't play well, but I won and that's good enough. Now I have to get ready for the next match," Nalbandian said at a post-match press conference.

"I still feel tired since I just arrived Sunday, and have to adapt to the 12 hours time difference here. But I hope to get better each day."

The players' encounter offered an exact replay of their sole previous meeting, where Nalbandian also won in the first round in Beijing last year.

Nalbandian, current world number nine, is looking to his second title of the year after Munich's win in April.

The victory in Beijing, if possible, would offer him some hope to bid for the year-end eighth spot, held by countryman Guillermo Coria for the time being.

"I'm trying to get into the Masters Cup. But better or worse, I'm just to win every match," said the Argentinean, quarterfinalist in three of four Grand Slam events this year.

Earlier on the day, fourth-seeded Thomas Johansson beat Jonas Bjorkman 6-4, 6-3 in an all-Swedish face-off and last year's semifinalist Jarkko Nieminen of Finland eliminated German Rainer Schuettler 6-4, 6-2.

Chinese wild card Wang Yu became the first home player into the last 16, outperforming qualifier Luka Gregorc of Slovenia 7-6 (5), 6-1.

Nalbandian is expected to have a tough quarterfinal against sixth-seeded Juan Carlos Ferrero although he is likely to enjoy a next easy win over qualifier Amir Hadad of Israel, who upset Belgian Dick Norman 7-5, 7-6 (5).

Then the 23-year-old would face Coria, then Rafael Nadal of Spain, which calls for a lot of hard scrambling.

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