David Nalbandian reached the quarter-finals of one of his favourite events yesterday, as the 2002 champion upset Croatian sixth seed Marin Cilic 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 at the Swiss Indoors
David Nalbandian reached the quarter-finals of one of his favourite events yesterday, as the 2002 champion upset Croatian sixth seed Marin Cilic 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 at the Swiss Indoors.
In addition to the trophy, he won on his Basel debut eight years ago, the Argentine has finished runner-up at the St Jakobshalle in 2003, 2004 and 2008.
He missed his annual appointment at the indoor event last year during a medical time-out following hip surgery in May 2009.
"I feel good now. Who can say 100 percent after an operation? But I made a good recovery," said the former world number three.
"I knew that if the surgery worked, I'd be back in tennis. "If not, well... I had no choice, the hip pain was too much."
Nalbandian said he was approaching the end of what he called a "strange season." "I couldn't make a very clean start (in February) after my surgery," he said.
"I had some muscular problems. But I played well during the American summer and started feeling better.
"I'm just trying to play these last two events of the season (Basel and the Paris Masters) well. My goal is to return to the top 10 in 2011."
Cilic was Nalbandian's victim last August in the Washington semi-finals as the Argentine claimed a post-surgery title.
The Basel loss all but ends any chance Cilic had of qualifying for one of the three spots remaining in the eight-man field for the World Tour Finals, which start in London in just under three weeks.
Cilic broke into the ranking top 10 for the first time earlier this year but he has struggled in recent months to maintain that form and now stands 15th.
