It’s rare for a match to end in a default.  Even the famous Serena blowup incident where she threatened to shove a tennis ball down a ball-lady’s throat in a semifinal against Kim Clijsters was not ended by a default (it was a point penalty that lead to a break of serve which ended the match).

For a set and a half, the two were playing well.  The first set went to a tiebreak which Nalbandian controlled well.  Cilic got up an early break in the second set, but Nalbandian broke back to 3-all.  Alas, in his attempt to consolidate the break, Cilic got a series of points leading to triple break point.  Nalbandian was bouncing his racquet.  Once he lost serve, he went to the sidelines and kicked a wooden structure where the linesman was sitting in.  It splintered and caused the linesman to get a minor cut.  Because of this, Nalbandian was defaulted.

Cilic became the unwitting winner.

In Germany, where the other grass event was taking place, the highly favored Federer lost to good friend, Tommy Haas, 76 64.  Haas has frequently been injured which leads to short periods where he can play.  He’s often done well in Halle winning the title in 2009 over Djokovic.  This time, he was able to beat Roger Federer. Federer felt he should have won the first set, and that losing it lead to momentum for the 34 year old German.

One more week of tournaments before Wimbledon starts!