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By Sean Rudolph
(August 6, 2010) On a night in which his best tennis often eluded him, David Nalbandian would not be denied. The Argentine wild card broke serve three times in the final set to rally into his first semifinal since February of 2009 with a 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 over Gilles Simon at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington, DC.
Playing his first ATP event since he reached the Monte Carlo quarterfinals in April, Nalbandian will face either fourth-seeded Croatian Marin Cilic or Serbia's Janko Tipsarevic in Saturday's semifinals.
The other semifinal pits Malisse against eighth-seeded Marcos Baghdatis, who defeated third-seeded Spaniard Fernando Verdasco, 7-6(3), 6-4.
Malisse took top-seeded Tomas Berdych out of his comfort zone and continued his summer-long resurgence in surging into the Legg Mason Tennis Classic semifinals with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 victory on a scorching day in Washington, DC.
Malisse, who celebrated his 30th birthday on July 19th, continues to play with a maturity that sometimes eluded him in his younger years. The 62nd-ranked Belgian has won 14 of his last 19 matches, reaching the quarterfinals in four of his last six events.
The 13th-seeded Simon swept a lethargic Andy Roddick in 69 minutes on Thursday night and jumped out to a one-set, one break lead against Nalbandian. But the burly Argentine began to move his feet faster, hit through his shots with more conviction and methodically move the counter-punching Simon around the court.
In the final set, Nalbandian took a 2-0 lead and fought off four break points in the third game.
Nalbandian made a flashy spinning half volley pick up and was at net ready for Simon's reply but netted a fairly easy volley to drop serve. Kicking the ball in disgust, Nalbandian walked to his seat with a 2-1 lead.
Simon plays off pace well but has trouble generating pace on his own. He buried a forehand into bottom of net to drop serve and fall into a 4-2 hole. Nalbandian could not consolidate and fired a forehand long to give the break back for 4-3. That would be the last game Simon won.
Nalbandian, who was particularly effective driving flatter shots down the line after opening the court with sharp ankles, won the next two games to advance.