BASEL, Switzerland (AFP) – Davis Cup teammates David Nalbandian and Juan Del Potro notched an Argentine double on Tuesday at the Swiss Indoors as tennis attention shifted temporarily to Champions League football.
Local side FC Basel will face off on Wednesday against Barcelona featuring Argentine international Lionel Messi in a group match.
Both Nalbandian and top-seeded hometowner Roger Federer are hoping to be in the stands at the stadium just across the road from the tennis in St Jakobshalle.
"I know Messi personally, so I'm sure he would get me a ticket if I asked," second seed Nalbandian said after polishing his indoor game with a 6-4, 6-2 defeat of Albert Montanes.
Federer, playing his opening match later against American Bobby Reynolds in a bid for a third straight Basel crown, is assured of a VIP seat for the football.
Third seed Juan Del Potro, who beat Nalbandian in the Madrid third round a week ago, advanced over Swiss qualifier George Bastl 6-2, 6-4.
Both South Americans are focusing on the November 21-23 Davis final in Mar del Plata against the Spain of Rafael Nadal.
But while Nalbandian has written off any interest in possibly qualifying for the season-ending Masters Cup in Shanghai, the 20-year-old Del Potro is standing provisional eighth with three spots in the eight-man field still open.
Nalbandian, playing for the seventh time in Basel, improved his record at the event to 19-4.
The 47th-ranked Montanes experienced more of the bad luck which has plagued him in four Basel appearances, where he remains without a career match win.
Italy's Simone Bolelli scored an upset of seventh seed Tomas Berdych as the Tokyo champion from earlier this month exited 6-4, 7-5.
Two German scored victories in this border city, with Andreas Beck defeating Frenchman Nicolas Devilder 6-4, 6-4 and Philipp Kohlschreiber winning a Teutonic struggle with countryman Denis Gremelmayr 6-4, 7-6 (7/5).
Source- Yahoo News.
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