Wawrinka outclasses Nalbandian in Montreal

Swiss reaches second round after straight-sets win.

MONTREAL:

Roger Federer turned 30 on Monday but it was fellow Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka who gave himself a present as he outclassed David Nalbandian 6-1, 6-4 to reach the second round of the ATP Montreal Masters.

Wawrinka, who won the 2008 Olympic doubles gold alongside Federer, said that while he would not go so far as to give him a present, he has the utmost respect for his compatriot as a player and a friend.

Wawrinka is making yet another change of surface after playing on grass at Wimbledon, switching to indoors for a Davis Cup tie and then to clay for the Gstaad ATP event last month before turning to cement for the run to the US Open which starts on August 29.

In another match, former US Open winner Juan Martin del Potro, seeded 16th as he continues a return from 2010 wrist surgery, crushed Finn Jarkko Nieminen 6-4, 6-0 in 68 minutes.

Qualifier ousts Bartoli in Toronto

Meanwhile, in Toronto, qualifier Galina Voskoboeva upset France’s Marion Bartoli 6-3, 6-3 to reach the second round of the $2.05 million WTA hardcourt tournament.

Kazakhstan’s Voskoboeva, ranked 135th in the world after reaching a career-best 64th in February of 2009, arrived in Toronto after reaching the first semi-final of her career at Baku, Azerbaijan, in July.

Tenth-seed Samantha Stosur of Australia, who dropped out of the top 10 on Monday for the first time since last April, advanced with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 victory over Japan’s Ayumi Morita.



Published in The Express Tribune, August 10^th, 2011.