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4/6/08 10:15 PM | Ricky Dimon
Nikolay Davydenko puts on a devastating display of tennis to rout Rafael Nadal and capture the 2008 Sony Ericsson Open championship. In all facets of the game, Nadal was simply no match for Davydenko.
Last Thursday Nikolay Davydenko was down match point in his first match of the Masters Series Miami to Ernests Gulbis. The 19-year-old Latvian had a sitting backhand to eliminate Davydenko from the tournament, but he missed it wide. Ten days later, Davydenko is standing as the champion. The Russian crushed No. 2 Rafael Nadal 6-4, 6-2 in one hour and 30 minutes on Sunday afternoon to capture the title.
Nadal entered this final showdown as the heavy favorite, but his opponent sent a message right away that he had other ideas. Davydenko handled Nadal's serve with ease all day long and it first showed as he broke the Spaniard to take a quick 2-1 advantage. Although Davydenko donated the break of serve right back to Nadal, he secured another break at 3-3 and held the rest of the way to take the opening frame.
Just as he did against Andy Roddick in the semifinals, with a set in hand Davydenko went into cruise control and ran away with the match. The Russian's impressive serving continued, as Davydenko won all nine of his first-serve points in the second set. He was even more in the zone, however, with his return game. Merely spinning his serves in proved far too little for Nadal, as Davydenko consistently took them inside the baseline to seize the early advantage in baseline rallies. That forced Nadal--as he often does--to spend the majority of the afternoon extremely far back in the court, whereas Davydenko remained on the offensive and even frequently came to the net. Some brutal forehand angles kept Nadal running all over the place and Davydenko also astounded the crowd with some exquisite drop volleys.
Nadal made far too many errors, especially off the Davydenko serve, but this probably would have been a losing effort regardless of his performance. Davydenko was simply in other-worldly form throughout the afternoon, and that propelled the 26-year-old to the biggest win of his career.
“For me it's surprising standing here (as the winner),” said the surprise champion. “I never play good in Miami. Standing here and winning it, it's crazy.”
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Did you know that... Jimmy Connors is the only player to have won the US Open on grass, clay and hard court.
janhavi, Nov 21, 2008 1:53 PM
janhavi, Nov 21, 2008 5:53 AM
james007, Nov 21, 2008 3:46 AM
Avalaine, Nov 20, 2008 9:06 PM
james007, Nov 20, 2008 8:03 AM
gordana, Nov 21, 2008 9:50 AM
tennisfan2, Nov 12, 2008 4:24 AM
elle, Nov 10, 2008 2:11 AM
Nikolay Davydenko
Rafael Nadal
Sony Ericsson Open
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