Will Nalbandian Reach The Quarters & Face Federer? *Spoiler (If Necessary)*

[ctbmar]

My only worry for Federer's possible quarter-final opponent is Nalbandian.
Although Federer has won the last 2 meetings rather convincingly, but Nalbandian was Federer's no. 1 Nemesis whose game must have frustrated Federer quite frequently to have gone down 5-0 to Nalbandian, before making it 5-2 in recent times. Has Federer thoroughly grasp on the weaknesses of Nalbandian and has confidently found the solution of beating Nalbandian, and in the midst of turning around the series like against Kiefer, Agassi, Hewitt?
I hope Nalbandian will be beaten by either Gonzalez / Davydenko / Moya, so Federer would not have to face Nalbandian in the quarters and recall his loss in US open 2003. When playing his opponent for a 3rd time or when he already found the solution or strategy to defeat the opponent, Federer seemed to demolished his opponent more convincely like Minar, Hewitt, Roddick. Nalbandian does not seemed to have a good year and seemed rather quiet in terms of news, until I checked that he actually made it to Australian & Wimbledon Quarter-finals. So should Federer's supporters be worried about a Nalbandian vs Federer quarter-finals possibility? Or Federer will still beat Nalbandian, even if he reaches the quarters, so no need to worry? I voted for Nalbandian to be ousted in the 4th round. What are your opinions?

[donnyz89]

i think federer is too much for nalbandian...

[Feña14]

That would be a great match. Federer does seem to have got over his loses to Nalbandian and he is a totally different player.

Nalbandian always seems to step it up when it matters and at the start of 2004 he was arguably the favourite for the Australian Open. He is certainly a class player and I think he can maybe take a set of Federer.

Whatever the result i'm sure it would be an exciting match up.

[ctbmar]

Judging that NALBANDIAN beat GONZALEZ in straight sets and bageled him 6-0 in the 3rd set is really impressive. I was hoping that Moya would meet Nalbandian and eliminate Nalbandian. But Moya lost early and now Sanguinetti is facing Nalbandian. Nalbandian should meet Federer in the quarters as I feared.
But does Nalbandian play a similar game to Kiefer? Both baseline players, double-backhand, right? But meeting Nalbandian may be a good thing for Federer if he beats Nalbandian and improve on their head-head meetings. If Federer meets Hrbaty in the semis and beat Hrbaty as well, its hard to flame Federer for not overcoming tough nemesis to be in the finals, because these 2 players currently have Federer's number in terms of head-head. People will then recognise Federer as a deserving US Open 2005 champion and not that he won because of a weak draw, but after getting through a strong tough draw. Kiefer is also a tough opponent that Federer faced in the past and in the present, so his path to the final will be quite a handful. I rather watch a Federer vs Hrbaty match than Federer vs Hewitt match, but hopefully Federer will come up on top.