For the first time since Kitzbuehel in July 2006 two Argentines will square off for an ATP singles title as David Nalbandian and Jose Acasuso play for the Copa Telmex title in Buenos Aires Sunday.
Nalbandian captured back-to-back ATP Masters Series shields in the fall at Madrid and Paris, and subsequently finished inside the Top 10 for the fifth straight year. He was not as spectacular in his first ATP main draw of 2008, falling in the third round of the Australian Open (winning six games in a straight set loss to Juan Carlos Ferrero). But he has gotten back on track this week, grinding out four wins to improve to 7-1 in 2008. He is playing the final here for the first time, his best prior runs being two quarterfinal finishes (falling to Nicolas Massu in 2002 and to Guillermo Coria in 2003).
Nalbandian is playing in his 15th career ATP singles final, going 7-7 in his first 14. He has reached clay court finals five times previously, winning three titles (2002 Estoril, 2005 Munich, 2006 Estoril) and finishing runner-up twice (2001 Palermo to Felix Mantilla, 2004 AMS Rome to Carlos Moya).
Acasuso was 4-5 on the season coming into Buenos Aires, his best run being the quarterfinals of Vina del Mar. With four wins this week (including over No. 3 seed Moya, No. 6 seed Igor Andreev and No. 8 seed Filippo Volandri) he is now 8-5 on the year. He has had lots of success here, this being his second time reaching the final, having finished runner-up in 2001 (to Gustavo Kuerten).
Acasuso is playing in his 10th career ATP singles final, going 3-6 in his first nine. All nine of these finals have been on clay (all 16 of his career ATP semifinals have come on clay). He has won titles at 2002 Sopot, 2004 Bucharest and 2006 Vina del Mar, and was a runner-up at 2001 Buenos Aires (to Kuerten), 2002 Bucharest (to David Ferrer), 2002 Palermo (to Fernando Gonzalez), 2004 Sopot (to Rafael Nadal), 2006 Stuttgart (to Ferrer) and most recently 2007 Sopot (to Tommy Robredo).
Acasuso is 12-33 (26.7%) lifetime against Top 20 players, but is a more favorable 7-16 (30.4%) against Top 20 players on clay. Four of his five career Top 10 wins (in completed matches) have come on this surface as well (Marat Safin once, Andy Roddick once and twice over Ivan Ljubicic). (ATP Digital Services)
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