David Nalbandian’s return to competition over the weekend made many wonder if he’d ever really been away. The former World No. 3 blitzed Chilean Nicolas Massu 6-2, 6-1 on Saturday and followed that up with an impressive 6-2, 6-2 win over Argentine Gaston Gaudio yesterday to win the Copa San Juan Minero, a four-man exhibition event at San Juan, Argentina. Nalbandian played almost flawlessly against Massu in his first competitive match in over seven months after undergoing hip surgery in early May. Nalbandian moved fluidly, pounded his forehand with accuracy, drove backhand winners down the lines, came to the net upon occasion and served big. It was a sterling performance, almost classic Nalbandian. Yesterday’s match was a bit more ragged with many errors from both players. Still, Nalbandian kept the hammer down, breaking serve in the fourth game of each set and never letting Gaudio get the upper hand while closing out the match. “I felt really good, very happy. I haven’t been on a court for a long time and I felt great from the beginning,” Nalbandian said. “Coming onto the court with an ovation, people applauding on their feet, it was great.” Nalby’s form certainly was surprising after such a lengthy hiatus. The fact that he felt no pain during or after the matches definitely was encouraging too. Nalbandian’s comeback continues this week at the Peugeot Argentina Tennis Cup 2009 in Buenos Aires. The competition will be a bit stiffer than in San Juan with Marcos Baghdatis, Fernando Gonzalez, Juan Monaco, Carlos Moya and Marat Safin entered in the six-man exhibition.

Nikolay Davydenko capped a magical week by defeating Juan Martin del Potro 6-3, 6-4 earlier today in the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals at The O2 in London. Davydenko, seeded sixth and ranked No. 7 in the world, defeated the winners of all four Grand Slam championships in 2009 enroute to the title, the first big tournament win of his career. The Russian routed Australian Open champion Rafael Nadal in round-robin play on Wednesday and topped French Open and Wimbledon winner Roger Federer for the first time in 13 matches in the semis yesterday. No. 5-ranked Del Potro won the U.S. Open in September. “For me it was amazing,” Davydenko said. “Coming here as No. 7 and winning the tournament, it was surprising for myself.” Davydenko was dominant from the back of the court, blasting winners both down the lines and cross court. “He’s very fast,” said Del Potro. “He plays like PlayStation. He runs to everywhere. It’s very difficult to make winners.” The 28-year-old Russian edged the big Argentine 25-20 in winners and committed just 15 unforced errors to his opponent’s 19. Davydenko also served effectively, losing only five points on his serve in the first set and eight in the second. He saved two break points with aces and a third with a service winner wide to Argentine’s backhand. Del Potro won the battle of aces, 8-7. “Maybe I had good concentration,” Davydenko said. “I was surprised I was coming in from the first point (with) 100 percent concentration. It was, I think, important for this match today.” The title was Davydenko’s fifth of the year and ties him with Novak Djokovic and Nadal for second most on tour. Andy Murray ends the year with six. Davydenko will move up one notch to No. 6 tomorrow when the final rankings come out. “I don’t think, ‘Now I’m No. 1,’ because I beat Federer,” Davydenko said. “But I know now in confidence, if I beat everyone then I can play very well.”

Novak Djokovic edged local favorite Gael Monfils 6-2, 5-7, 7-6 (3) to win the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris earlier today. In a match riddled by momentum swings, the No. 3-seeded Djokovic prevailed in 2 hours and 43 minutes when the No. 15-seeded Frenchman doublefaulted on his opponent’s first match point. Djokovic fell to his knees and screamed in relief. The title was Djokovic’s fifth of the year, tying him with Rafael Nadal for second most on the ATP Tour. Britain’s Andy Murray leads with six. Djokovic, who defeated Roger Federer in the final at Basel last week, improved to a tour best 76-18 on the season. The Serb overpowered No. 2 Nadal in yesterday’s semis to reach his 10th final of the year. “Winning back to back titles at this level is a huge achievement for me, and adding to that, beating the World No. 1 and No. 2,” said Djokovic. “I really feel that I’m in great form right now.” Djokovic won the first set easily and raced to a 3-0 lead in the second before Monfils rebounded to level at 3-3. The Frenchman broke again in the 11th game and held to take the set. Djokovic twice lead by a service break in the final set, but was foiled both times by Monfils who fought his way back to force a tiebreaker. “It was unbelievably difficult,” Djokovic said afterward. “Gael was very unpredictable and he was hitting the ball very good.” The title was the 16th of Djokovic’s career and third in his last four tournaments. Nole also won at Beijing in early October. Monfils, ranked No. 16 coming into the tournament, will improve to No. 13 when the new ATP rankings come out tomorrow. “I didn’t find any solution in the beginning, I was playing too defensive,” Monfils said. “But I didn’t lose faith in my chances and I almost overturned the match.” Based on his current form, Djokovic should be a strong favorite to defend his title at the eight-man ATP World Tour Finals in London next week.

Rafael Nadal has not won a tournament since the Rome Masters in May. Since then, the No. 2-ranked Spaniard has gone seven straight tournaments without a win, while losing his No. 1 ranking to Roger Federer on July 6. Most players would consider the 23-7 record Rafa has posted in that span a success, but not Nadal. Particularly telling is the fact that six of the losses were in straight sets and the other a four-set pummeling by Robin Soderling in the fourth round of the French Open. Definitely chinks in the armor. Plagued by injuries off and on since the end of last year, Nadal has clearly not been “le bete sauvage” who won four straight French Opens (2005-08) and was virtually invincible for 46 straight weeks at No. 1. Some wonder if Nadal’s overzealous schedule and relentless style of play have finally worn him down. After retiring against Nikolay Davydenko in the quarterfinals of the Paris Masters last November, Nadal packed it in for the season to rest his weary knees. Rejuvenated by the time off, Nadal won the Australian Open in January as well as four other tournaments, while posting a 38-3 mark. Nadal failed to win his fourth straight clay-court tournament of the spring when he dropped the final of the Madrid Masters to Federer two weeks after Rome. The Spaniard hasn’t been the same since. After losing at Roland Garros, Nadal shut down for over two months to calm the tendinitis in both knees. A difficult decision since he was the defending champion at Wimbledon. The Spaniard returned in August and played two hard-court tournaments leading up to the U.S. Open. He strained a stomach muscle at Cincinnati and then re-agravated the injury at Flushing Meadows before losing to eventual champion Juan Martin del Potro in the semifinals. After some more down time, the 23-year-old Nadal returned this month. The results weren’t good as he was scorched by Marin Cilic in the semifinals at Beijing and Davydenko in the final at Shanghai. Nadal has two more tournament this season – the Paris Masters in two weeks and the season-ending Masters Cup in London at the end of the month. After leaving Shanghai, Nadal was philosophical about his current state. “I can just say I am going to work hard to be at my best as soon as possible and I am not seeing myself very far off that. I would love to have a title, but if I am still playing like this in Paris and London, it’s difficult, sure,” he said. “The best players are there. But in Paris I expect to have another chance to play a good tournament. And if you are there all the time semifinals, final, you’re going to win. I don’t know when, but you’re going to win.” If Nadal is to regain the form that led to his reign at No. 1, he needs to remain injury free. His style of play dictates that he competes on sound knees.

Nikolay Davydenko whipped top-seeded Rafael Nadal 7-6 (3), 6-3 yesterday to win the Shanghai Masters for his fourth title in four finals this year. The sixth-seeded Russian broke Nadal in the decisive sixth game of the second set to capture his 18th career championship. Davydenko’s flat groundstrokes and sharply angled winners neutralized Nadal’s aggressive game and denied the Spaniard his sixth title of the year and first since the Rome Masters in May. “I think I was a little bit lucky, but mostly I was playing very well today. I did a good job in three weeks in Asia,” said Davydenko, who also won in Kuala Lumpur two weeks ago. The victory earned Davydenko 1000 ATP Ranking points, moving him up one place to No. 7 and a virtual lock to clinch one of the three remaining slots in the season-ending Masters Cup. London hosts the prestigious eight-man event November 22-29. Nadal returned last week after a month off due to a pulled stomach muscle at the U.S. Open. He appeared rusty Sunday, having advanced twice when both his quarterfinal and semifinal opponents retired. Nadal had reached the semifinals at Beijing last week on his return to the tour. The No. 2-ranked Spaniard also was sidelined after the French Open for two months with tendinitis in both knees. “I have my chance in the first set and I’m especially happy with one thing – it’s the first match after my injury comeback against one top player,” Nadal said. “I really felt I really have chances to win. That’s the most positive thing for me, and I fight all the time with a positive attitude, no physical problems. So that’s very good news for me.” Davydenko improved to 3-4 lifetime against Nadal. The Russian also won tournaments in Hamburg and Umag earlier this year.

Towering Croat Ivo Karlovic shattered the record for aces in a tour-level match with 78, but astoundingly lost to Radek Stepanek 7-6 (5), 6-7 (5), 6-7 (6), 7-6 (2), 16-14 yesterday in the first singles match of the Davis Cup semifinal between Croatia and the Czech Republic. The marathon contest, played before a raucous home-town crowd on an indoor red-clay court in Porec, Croatia, lasted five hours and 59 minutes. The 6-foot-10 Karlovic broke his own record of 55, established in a five-set loss to Lleyton Hewitt in the first round of the French Open in May. The defeat was particularly galling for Karlovic because he had four match points against Stepanek: three with the Czech serving at 4-5 and another at 11-12 in the final set of the match. After exchanging service breaks in the second and third games of the first set, Karlovic and Stepanek combined to hold serve 78 consecutive games. “We were not able to break each other,” Stepanek said. “The match was going crazy.” The end finally came in the 29th game of the fifth set, when Karlovic botched a high forehand volley near the net, slapping it long over the baseline to lose his serve. Stepanek held to close out the victory, but not before squandering a pair of match points. “It was a kind of lottery in the fifth set but I stayed mentally strong and it paid off in the end,” Stepanek said. Thomas Berdych put the Czech Republic up 2-0 with a 6-3, 6-3, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3 win over Marin Cilic in the second rubber.

Juan Martin del Potro rallied from a two-sets-to-one deficit to defeat five-time defending champion Roger Federer 3-6, 7-6 (5), 4-6. 7-6 (4), 6-2 in the final of the U.S. Open yesterday. The 20-year-old Argentine, shaky and nervous in the beginning, served big when he needed to and pounded bazooka forehands that gradually wore Federer down in an ebb-and-flow contest that lasted four hours and six minutes. Federer was going for his 16th career Grand Slam title and third of the year after winning the French Open and Wimbledon earlier this season. No. 6 del Potro, while not a household name outside tennis circles, had his breakthrough last summer, winning 23 matches in a row and four straight hard-court tournaments. The 6-foot-6 Argentine, who administered an impressive beatdown of Rafael Nadal in the semis on Sunday, had lost his previous six matches against Federer. “Maybe I look back and have some regrets about it,” said Federer, never beaten by anyone other than Nadal in a major final. “But, you know, you can’t have them all and can’t always play your best.” Federer struggled with his serve throughout the match, committing 11 double faults and connecting on just 47 percent of his first deliveries. It didn’t matter at first as del Potro came out listless and uninspired. But the sleeping giant awoke in the 10th game of the second set, breaking Federer to even the set at 5-5. Del Potro won the tiebreaker and was in the match. Two straight double faults by the Argentine at 4-5 in the third set gave Federer the break and the set. Perhaps a little gun shy after the double doubles, del Potro took a little off his first serve over the final two sets and got a much higher percentage in. The tactic worked as Federer, uncharacteristically edgy and out or sorts, was most troubled by the 100 mph forehands del Potro was blasting at him. “When I would have a dream, it was to win the U.S. Open, and the other one is to be like Roger. One is done,” del Potro said during the on-court ceremony. Addressing Federer directly, del Potro added: “I need to improve a lot to be like you. I’d like to congratulate you for fighting ’til the last point.” The Argentine had more winners, 57 to 56, and committed fewer unforced errors, 60 to 62. Del Potro became the first player other than Federer, Nadal or Novak Djokovic to win a Grand Slam since Marat Safin won the Australian Open at the beginning of 2005.

Roger Federer is tanned and ready. The Swiss Maestro showed he is in top form yesterday with a decisive 6-1, 7-5 victory over Novak Djokovic in the final of the Cincinnati Masters. The title was No. 1 Federer’s fourth of the year and first since he became a father of twin girls last month. Just 10 days ago in Montreal, Federer, rusty from his fatherhood sabbatical after Wimbledon, blew a 5-1 third-set lead against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and lost the quarterfinal match to the Frenchman. There was no such rust at the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters, Federer’s final tuneup before the U.S. Open, which begins a week from today. Federer bested nemesis Andy Murray, who he had lost to four straight times, in the semis on Saturday and dropped just one set during the week. “I really had the feeling today I could mix it up the way I wanted to,” Federer said. “That then gave me a lot of confidence. I was playing great from the beginning to the end.” The tone of the match was set in the 13-minute, 22-point second game, which saw Djokovic, ranked No. 4, lose serve after saving six break points. “The second game helped him to get in the rhythm, and he gained more confidence, played more relaxed from that point on,” said Djokovic, who defeated Federer in their previous two meetings this year. “He was just too good in the first set. I didn’t start very energetic, and my body language wasn’t what it was last night.” Djokovic defeated Rafael Nadal handily in the night semifinal on Saturday. The week in Cincinnati exceeded Federer’s expectations. “I felt like my game was pretty much in place in practice, so I knew coming over here it was not just to show up,” he said. “That it paid off so quickly, I’m a little bit surprised, you know?” The championship was Federer’s 16th Masters Series title, second only to Andre Agassi with 17.

The expectations for Andy Murray ratcheted up a notch yesterday after the Scotsman defeated Juan Martin Del Potro 6-7 (4), 7-6 (3), 6-1 in the final of the Rogers Cup at Montreal. The title, Murray’s fifth of the year, improved his record to an ATP-best 50-7 this season and vaulted the 22-year-old redhead to No. 2 in the world in today’s new rankings, supplanting Rafael Nadal, who dropped to No. 3. In the end, Murray proved to be fitter, quicker and more resilient than his No. 6-ranked opponent. Del Potro, fresh off a win last week at Washington, had the better of Murray for almost two sets. After holding serve to take a 6-5 lead in the second set, the Argentine took an injury timeout for treatment to his left side. Murray, a tad miffed by the stoppage, held to force the tiebreaker and then took control. The Scotsman’s rigorous training in the heat of Miami after Wimbledon proved to be the difference as Del Potro wilted in the sultry conditions. “It was difficult because Juan played unbelievably for the first two sets and I was on the defensive because of that, and I had to do a lot of running,” Murray said. “But he has had a lot of matches in the last two weeks and I knew it would be difficult in this heat. I needed to serve well because he was serving great. I hit three aces in the (second set) tie-break and that was the difference from the first set. Then I had to stay tough to stay on top.” Now that he’s ranked No. 2, Murray will feel even more pressure to win his first major. Many predicted the Scotsman would get off the schneid and win at Melbourne in January. Fernando Verdasco bounced Murray in the fourth round. With Nadal sidelined by injury and Roger Federer presumed spent from finally winning the French Open, Wimbledon seemed ripe for the taking. Andy Roddick ended that dream in the semis. For now, Murray must be content adjusting to his new, lofty status. “I love winning tournaments, and every player will tell you the same thing,” Murray said. “But it’s tough because I’ve never been to No. 2 in the world before, so that’s new to me.” The U.S Open starts in two weeks, though, and you can be sure the Murray chatter isn’t going to go away.

David Nalbandian withdrew from the U.S. Open last Friday. Uh-huh! Not much has been heard about the mercurial Argentine since he was bounced out in the first round at Estoril in late April. Nalbandian underwent hip surgery in mid May, after stubbornly dealing with recurring hip pain and mixed results on the tennis court since early last year. Nalbandian’s rehab has been going well in Argentina. D-Nal started 2009 strong, winning at Sydney, his 10th career title, and then suffered an inexplicable loss to unheralded Yen-Hsun Lu in the second round at the Australian Open. A first round loss, at Acapulco, was followed by a brilliant fourth-round match against Rafael Nadal at Indian Wells. Nadal won 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-0, but Nalbandian astonishingly squandered five match points after having the Spaniard on the ropes. Two weeks later at Miami, Viktor Troicki made quick work of the Argentine in the second round. Clearly, something was wrong. Nalbandian’s reticence about his physical state only exacerbated the speculation. One of the most gifted and talented players on the tour, the Argentine has often been criticized for underachievement. “The best player to have never won a major” is a label that has plagued Nalbandian for some time. His fitness and commitment have frequently been questioned. The fact of the matter is that for well over a year the longer Nalbandian’s matches went on the worse the pain in his hip got. Might have had a lot to do with his inabilility to close out some matches he should have won, eh? Three clay-court tournaments after Miami and Nalbandian was done. Therapy and treatment didn’t work. “Before having surgery, I knew that it could go wrong, but I never hesitated,” Nalbandian said. “I will return. I was in a situation where I couldn’t go on, the operation was the only way. But I don’t think negatively, I have great faith. Those were two years with a lot of pain, with tremendous limitations for playing. I won important tournaments on one leg, as they say. I could not walk and I had trouble driving. I will fight to be among the top five again. My idea, if I’m well, is to play until age 30. Tennis players retire more often because of the mental stress than for physical reasons.” Australian Lleyton Hewitt, a former No. 1, had similar hip surgery after the Olympics last summer and returned to the tour in January. Hewitt’s recent success has provided encouragement for Nalbandian. “Nobody can assure you of anything, because it’s a new and delicate injury,” Nalbandian said. “I know that when I return, I will step on the court being afraid until I can get all of that out of my head.” The plan is four to six months, so realistically the beginning of next season. Until then, Nalbandian’s tennis genius continues to be sorely missed.