Tursunov Ousted by Nalbandian

Dmitry Tursunov fell to the third seeded David Nalbandian 2-6, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 in the third round of the French Open yesterday. Unfortunately, the match wasn't televised, so I can't report much about it.

Tursunov seems to be steadily improving after many years on tour. He's currently ranked 34th in the world and was the 31st seed at Roland Garros. As Andrew Lilley noted in his match recap after the second round, "After falling in the first round in 2004 and the second last year, the stocky Russian is now into the last 32. At this pace, you could do worse than wager a few euros on him to win the tournament in 2011..."

But few, myself included, harbored any hope of him beating the tenacious Nalbandian on clay. Nonetheless, the score clearly indicates that Tursunov gave the world's third ranked player a run for his money.