Aces and Faults - yourtennisnews.com » Davydenko

Nadal in Final

anthony — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 05:10:24 +0000

Rafael Nadal advanced to the Shanghai Masters final on Saturday after Feliciano Lopez became the ninth player to retire from the tournament.

The unseeded Lopez said he woke up with a right foot infection, and then twisted his right ankle on the last point of the first set. He was trailing 6-1, 3-0 when he retired.

The top-seeded Nadal will play in Sunday’s final against sixth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, who outlasted second-seeded Novak Djokovic of Serbia 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (1).

“He’s playing very well today,” said Nadal, who holds a 4-2 advantage over Davydenko in their previous meetings. “He has a lot of rhythm, and he’s playing with a lot of intensity. It’s going to be a really tough match.”

Nadal only lost four points in the five service games he played against Lopez in the semifinal, which he gained when Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia retired with a left hip injury.

The Spaniard is looking for his sixth title of the year, and the first since returning from an injury layoff to recover from knee tendinitis, which prevented him from defending his Wimbledon title. He also struggled with a stomach muscle injury at the U.S. Open.

“I’m in a final and that’s very important,” Nadal said. “It’s my first final since I’ve been back and that’s a good result for me.”

Davydenko reached his fourth final of the year after a hard-fought match that lasted more than three hours. The Russian dominated the final tiebreaker, racing out to a 5-0 lead before sealing the win.

Djokovic had saved all three break points he faced in the first set, before breaking Davydenko with his second set point when the Russian smacked a crosscourt backhand wide.

Davydenko then took control of the second by breaking for a 4-3 lead when Djokovic’s forehand sailed long at 15-40. The Russian had two set points on Djokovic’s serve in the ninth game but couldn’t convert either. Instead, he served it out in the next game with two aces.

Davydenko has won all three finals he has played this year, in Hamburg, Umag and the Kuala Lumpur tournament two weeks ago.

Sharapova Goes Down in China

anthony — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 06:39:11 +0000

Maria Sharapova was eliminated from the China Open on Wednesday, losing to Peng Shuai of China 6-2, 6-4, and Svetlana Kuznetsova moved into the quarterfinals by beating Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine 6-3, 4-6, 6-0.

Peng broke Sharapova twice in the first set, and then again in the sixth game of the second as the former top-ranked Russian appeared to show the strain of her three-set comeback victory over Victoria Azarenka of Belarus the night before. Sharapova did save two match points at 5-4 before losing.

The sixth-seeded Kuznetsova outplayed Bondarenko for much of the match and next faces Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia, who defeated Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada 6-4, 6-4.

In addition, fourth-seeded Elena Dementieva of Russia beat Li Na of China 6-2, 6-0.

Nikolay Davydenko of Russia advanced in the men’s field, beating Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-1, 6-0. Davydenko will face Marin Cilic of Croatia, who beat Julien Benneteau of France 6-2, 2-6, 6-0.

Second-seeded Novak Djokovic trounced Viktor Troicki 6-3, 6-0, while Fernando Verdasco defeated Juan Carlos Ferrero 7-5, 6-4.

Verdasco falls to Davydenko

anthony — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 05:14:56 +0000

Top-seededed Nikolay Davydenko of Russia defeated Fernando Verdasco of Spain 6-4, 7-5 to win the Malaysia Open on Sunday.

Davydenko extended his record to 6-1 over Verdasco and gave him a third title this year. He also won the German Open in Hamburg and Croatia Open in Umag.

In Bangkok, Gilles Simon of France won the Thailand Open, defeating Viktor Troicki 7-5, 6-3 for his first ATP title of the year and sixth overall.

Troicki, seeded fourth, and Simon traded breaks late in the first set before the Frenchman broke when leading 6-5. Simon broke an error-prone Troicki to make it 4-2 in the second set.

Simon won on his second match point when the Serbian hit a forehand return wide.

Evans gets Swedish tennis lesson

anthony — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 04:03:40 +0000

Robin Soderling cruised past American Brendan Evans 6-1, 6-1 Wednesday to reach the quarterfinals of the Malaysian Open. Soderling never lost a point on his first serve and broke the American five times to wrap up the win in less than an hour. Evans later posted on his facebook account that he got his ass handed to him.

Top-seeded Nikolay Davydenko also reached the quarterfinals by beating American Taylor Dent 6-3, 7-6, while fellow Russian Mikhail Youzhny ousted wild-card entry Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus 6-2, 6-3.

In first-round action, fifth-seeded Gael Monfils of France defeated Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan 7-6 (3), 7-6 (2). Monfils said he felt tired after arriving in Kuala Lumpur early Wednesday.

Carly Gullikson wins mixed!