Nalbandian Puts Argentina Ahead

In front of 14,000 fans, including the "God" of Argentine sport Diego Maradona, Nalbandian took one hour 58 minutes to score a 64 63 63 win over Mark Philippoussis.

This was the first meeting between Nalbandian and Philippoussis for three years and they had split their previous two matches.

"It was great, the crowd was amazing, it's completely full, the stadium and it was only 11 in the morning, so that's unbelievable," said Nalbandian.

"The match was very quiet and I didn't get tired which is very good for me for the doubles."

While Nalbandian was of the opinion that the crowd didn't get totally fired up because he was cruising through the match, Philippoussis on the other hand found the going tough. He said the noise factor made it difficult but it wasn't as if he didn't know what to expect.

Certainly the red clay court had slowed down from earlier in the week when the teams were practising on it. The day had become quite overcast and seemed to threaten rain, which could have had a bearing on the court conditions.

"I found it tough to put pace on the ball and in a lot of those rallies I thought I'd get a short reply to try and dictate the point and he'd get there comfortably," said Philippoussis. "The ball was just sitting up and he'd roll it cross court."

The first break of the match came in the seventh game of the first set when Philippoussis double faulted to drop his serve. That was when the nerves seemed to leave Nalbandian and he started to feel his game. The returns were flowing more freely. Philippoussis said he didn't feel deflated at that point because "a lot can happen but I just couldn't get those important points".

In the second set Nalbandian broke in the third game with a backhand winner and broke again in the eighth game when Philippoussis sent a backhand long.

The Australian had a brief respite when he broke Nalbandian for 2-1 in the third, but the Argentine struck back immediately and then won five of the next six games, closing it with a forehand winner on his first match point.

Nalbandian said that he didn't play at his best early on but gradually his game sorted itself out, and when he needed to look for a boost the crowd was there to carry him.

Next up Lleyton Hewitt will try to put Australia level as he takes on Jose Acasuso. (daviscup.org)