| 13 August 2010
Reality set in today at the Rogers Cup in Toronto as David Nalbandian's career best win streak was halted at eleven. Beaten with ease by fourth seeded Andy Murray 6-2, 6-2, it appeared as though the Argentine simply ran out of gas.
A day after taking care of fifth seed Robin Soderling, Nalbandian's ground strokes missed the mark with regularity against Murray and his foot work seemed stagnant as well. A case of too much tennis in a short period of time perhaps.
Murray played his best match so far in the tournament and broke early in both the first and second set to take control of each frame.
Going into the match I'd have given Nalbandian a 50/50 chance to pull off the upset, given his 2-0 career head-to-head record against the Scot along with his stellar play of late. He has been playing top-15 tennis since coming back to the tour in July which is where his ranking should be when healthy.
On the positive side for the veteran ball-striker, he will now very likely be able to squeeze out a seeding at the U.S. Open in two week's time which should help him at his first Grand Slam appearance since the 2009 Aussie Open.
Murray now advances to the semi-finals where he will meet Rafael Nadal a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 winner over Philipp Kohlschreiber in his attempt to defend his Rogers Cup title.
Keep checking back for more updates from a fantastic day of tennis here in Toronto. The evening matches of Roger Federer vs. Tomas Berdych should answer a lot of questions we all have about the status of the Swiss star's game. Later, Novak Djokovic will try to take advantage of the cool night time conditions to play against Frenchman Jeremy Chardy.
You can also follow me on Twitter for timely updates throughout the day.
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