
Having lost a slew of points over the past eighteen months, Nalbandian has dropped into triple digits -- a little daunting for a man who just a year ago was in the top twenty. But he was on fire in Washington and didn't drop a set in his first three matches. Though he hiccuped early against Gilles Simon on Friday night, he rebounded well and broke the Frenchman's serve six times in the last two sets.

But something was off his game this evening -- or rather, something was very on in Nalbandian's.
"I don't think I can count on one hand the number of points he missed today," Cilic said of the near-perfect shot making of Nalbandian. The Argentine felt similarly confident with his game, saying after the match: "Last night I needed a set (to warm up) -- today I needed a game."
Though Cilic broke his opponent to start, the usually-big server was held to one ace the entire match. He lost seven games in a row to a very clean David and ultimately doled out an unimpressive service game to end the match.
Nalbandian's first final in the U.S. is a reward after what's seemed like a long slog back for him. And as he takes on Marcos Baghdatis, another man who's had his greatest successes elsewhere in the world, he certainly looks like he'll be tough to beat. But tomorrow's final certainly sets the stage for what could be a very entertaining U.S. Open Series -- and with so many of the sport's greats having some roller coaster runs, the possibilities of making an even bigger dent in the States have never been so great.
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