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4/25/08 5:40 PM | Ricky Dimon
Nikolay Davydenko survives another scare and defeats Igor Andreev in the quarterfinals of the Masters Series Monte-Carlo on Friday. Tomorrow will mark Davydenko's third semifinal appearance in as many tournaments.
Nikolay Davydenko is going to give his faithful box--wife and two brothers--a heart attack if he isn't careful.
The No. 4 player in the world has had more than his fair share of down-to-the-wire victories in the past few weeks and he was right back at it again on Friday afternoon. One day after surviving Philipp Kohlschreiber with a come-from-behind win, Davydenko outlasted Igor Andreev 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 to reach the semifinals of the Masters Series Monte-Carlo.
For a moment it looked like Davydenko might actually be able to get past Andreev without making things too interesting, at least after he took the first set 6-3. Andreev got up a break in the early going, but Davydenko's matches almost always feature constant breaks of serve so that proved to be of little importance. The fourth seed broke back twice in-a-row thanks to some ill-timed double-faults and unforced errors by Andreev and Davydenko broke yet again at 5-3 with relative ease to win the last five games of the set.
As usual, however, Davydenko could not stand prosperity and now it was his turn to be utterly unable to hold serve. For Andreev, taking care of just one service game in the early stages of the second set was enough to seize a decisive 5-2 lead, as he stole all four of Davydenko's service games. Davydenko quickly brought it back to 5-4, but Andreev closed out the set with a solid serving to level the match.
While Davydenko's serve let him down immensely in the second set, Andreev also played a part in the turnaround. His huge forehand came on strong and began to take control of the match, and that trend continued well into the decisive frame of play. Davydenko simply had no answer for the Andreev topspin forehand and the No. 32 player in the world surged to a 3-1 advantage. What Davydenko always has an answer for, however, is bearing down at the clutch moments. Sensing victory at 3-1, Andreev on the other hand melted down. He began spraying errors all over the place off both sides and suddenly Davydenko had the lead after two breaks of his opponent.
Even though Andreev brought the third set back to 5-5 after being down 5-3, the outcome somehow seemed inevitable. And it was. In the midst of a Davydenko collapse, which had him down 15-40 serving at 5-5, Andreev decided it was his turn to collapse the rest of the way. He failed to capitalize on the break points at 5-5 and then he proceeded to blow a 40-0 lead while serving to stay in the match. A flurry of tension-filled errors finally gave Davydenko the win and put an end to an excruciating afternoon of tennis.
Davydenko moves on to his third straight semifinal, where he will take on either Rafael Nadal or David Ferrer. It will be a tough matchup regardless for the Russian, but having won the Sony Ericsson Open last month and reaching the final in Estoril a week ago, it's impossible to discount him from any match.
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Did you know that... Andre Agassi has won all four Grand Slam tournaments.
Avalaine, Dec 4, 2008 4:32 AM
ravikiran, Dec 4, 2008 3:49 AM
kaitepai, Dec 3, 2008 10:59 PM
kaitepai, Dec 3, 2008 10:02 PM
janhavi, Dec 3, 2008 2:51 PM
Avalaine, Dec 3, 2008 10:15 PM
Casper, Dec 2, 2008 8:23 PM
Casper, Dec 2, 2008 8:02 PM
Igor Andreev
Nikolay Davydenko
ATP Masters Series Monte Carlo
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