By DPA
Paris : David Nalbandian of Argentina followed up on a win less than a fortnight ago as he stunned Roger Federer 6-4, 7-6 (7-3) to send the top seed crashing out in the third round of the Paris Masters.
While the Swiss world number one was struggling Thursday with the second man this year to beat him twice in two meetings – Argentine Guillermo Coria was the other in March – Spain’s Rafael Nadal was finding his feet with a win over another Swiss, Stanislas Wawrinka, 6-4, 6-3.
Federer, beaten by Nalbandian in October in a comeback for the Madrid title, blamed a slow court for some of his misery.
“It’s impossible to hit the winner from the baseline. Not much comes out of the ball,” said the winner of 12 Grand Slam singles titles, now heading for the season finale starting Nov 11 in Shanghai.
“I tried to be aggressive, but he doesn’t really allow you to play that way. You have to play very much with what comes from David. He’s got a phenomenal backhand and can dictate play from both sides, and when he hits his forehand as well as he did in the first set, it’s always going to be difficult.”
Federer mounted a comeback from 3-5 down in the opening set but was unable to get over the top as Nalbandian held on.
In the second, the top seed was broken to love in the ninth game, broke back a game later and eventually forced a tiebreaker. But Nalbandian again dictated play and advanced on his second of four match points.
Nadal began building a record indoors at the expense of Wawrinka.
Spain’s world number two is playing the event for the first time in his career after winning Roland Garros for the last three years.
The Spaniard is among six of the elite already qualified for Shanghai. Federer heads the field in the elite season finale in China, ahead of Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Nikolay Davydenko, Andy Roddick and David Ferrer.
Nadal has played a limited autumn schedule due to tendinitis in both knees, which he began to feel before the US Open.
His lone tournament appearance after losing in the fourth round in New York was last month in Madrid, where he lost in the quarter-final to eventual champion Nalbandian.
Marcos Baghdatis stayed in the chase on an outside 18th after beating ailing defending champion Davydenko 6-2, 6-2.
The Russian has been suffering for nearly a month with an elbow problem but is more worried about the sudden loss of his serve.
“I cannot serve. I make so many double faults, and my elbow is still recovering,” he said. “I don’t really have pain in the elbow. I need to find the reason why I can’t serve.”
Ferrer eliminated Tomas Berdych from year-end consideration 6-4, 6-2. Murray extended his miracle run with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Frenchman Fabrice Santoro, before marvelling at the skills of his 34-year-old opponent.
“He can put so much backspin on a tennis ball, it’s ridiculous. No one else can do it like him,” said the Scot, whose win moved him temporarily up to provisional eighth pending the outcome of the Haas match.
“It’s unbelievable how low the ball stays, the defensive lobs that (Santoro) hits. He hits volleys looking the other way. It’s just the stuff that he can do. It’s pretty much a rare ability.”
Murray, out for three months with a midseason wrist injury, has made a run for Shanghai in recent weeks, building his stake massively with last week’s St Petersburg title, his second of the season.