Nalbandian eases into Basel second round

BASEL: Argentine second seed David Nalbandian enjoyed a comfortable passage into the second round of the Swiss Indoors on Wednesday to maintain some pressure on world number one and local favourite Roger Federer.   

Nalbandian, who can only meet Federer in Sunday's final, defeated Croatian lucky loser Roko Karanusic 6-2 6-4 to set up a second round encounter with Spanish world number 80 Feliciano Lopez.   

Defending champion and third seed Fernando Gonzalez also advanced after a surprisingly hard fought 7-6 6-7 7-6 win over Italian world number 124 Simone Bolelli.   

Nalbandian made light work of the 179th-ranked Karanusic, with two breaks of serve in each set. The Argentine unnecessarily surrendered a service game while serving for the match at 5-2 but he made no mistake with his next opportunity and calmly finished off with an ace.   

"I was playing very well until leading 3-0 in the second set," Nalbandian said. "Then I fell down a bit with my concentration but it was okay for a first round match."   

Nalbandian has an added incentive for reaching Sunday's final as it will guarantee him a spot at the season-ending Masters Cup, where the Argentine is hoping to defend the title.   

"The Masters Cup is a big motivation for me but it's going to be a long season since I also have the Davis Cup final after that," Nalbandian pointed out.    

"I made a great start to the year up until Wimbledon but then I got sick during Toronto and Cincinnati and lost ground. I'm feeling a lot fresher now though."