Defending champion David Nalbandian of Argentina and Ivan Ljubicic
struggled into Wednesday morning before the Croatian profitted from a
late break to produce a 5-7, 7-6 (9-7) 7-5 win.
Ivan Ljubicic's 30 aces in his three-set win was the most in a Tennis Masters Cup match since 1996
when countryman Goran Ivanisevic fired 35 aces in his 6-7, 7-6, 7-5 loss to Pete
Sampras in the ATP World Championships semifinals.
The drama was nonstop, with Nalbandian suffering his second Red group
loss in as many matches. He failed to serve out a straight-sets victory
at 5-4 in the second set.
Ljubicic, who
underwent a blood test on Monday after fighting a virus in recent
weeks, was given the all-clear by doctors. The Croatian tested himself
to the limit in two hours, 48 minutes.
In
addition to this 30 aces, Ljubicic also fired 61 winners and struck 44
unforced errors while breaking Nalbandian three times.
Nalbandian was unable to bounce back from a defeat against Roger Federer in his opening round-robin match in China.
Ljubicic won his 60th match of the season as he played in the Tennis Masters Cup for the second year.
The 27-year-old with three titles in 2006 was unable to compete in the
last two weeks of the regular ATP season due to his illness and the
fatigue of a long season.
The Red group has yet
to be settled with the mathematics still giving all four players in the
group a chance to reach the semifinals.
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