Match report

Nikolay Davydenko © Tennistalk.com
Dubai Tennis Championships
Semi final
3/7/08 1 2 3 Tot
ru  Nikolay Davydenko 4 6 5 1
es  Feliciano Lopez 6 4 7 2
Feliciano Lopez © Tennistalk.com

  • Battling Lopez fights back

    3/8/08 12:04 PM | David Cox
    Feliciano Lopez made his first ATP final since Gstaad 2006 with a miraculous recovery against Nicolay Davydenko yesterday to win 6-4, 4-6, 7-5.

    Dubai always brings the best out of Lopez, he made his first final in the middle east back in 2004, beating the likes of Davydenko, Youzhny and Ljubicic then and he’s picked up 3 more big scalps this week

    For much of the match it looked as though Davydenko would be the man heading through to the final and he had enough chances to win in straights. Lopez won just 1 point in the first 3 games, the Russian storming to a 3-0 lead. Lopez began to find his rhythm and broke back for 3-2 but lost serve again immediately, netting a tough volley off a fierce Davydenko return. Undeterred, Lopez dug in and reeled off 4 straight games to take the set, hitting better approach shots and pressurizing Davydenko into missing

    The momentum didn’t swing so wildy in the second set but both players found themselves under pressure on serve. Davydenko saving break point in the opening game and Lopez doing so at 3-4. However it was the Russian who broke through, Lopez feeling the pressure, serving to stay in at 4-5 and was punished for some loose shots.

    Into the 3rd and the match appeared to be heading just 1 way, Davydenko broke to go 3-1 up and that soon became 5-2. However, Lopez stunned the crowd and many online spectators with a quite remarkable comeback, just refusing to miss and taking 5 straight games to win it 7-5 and seal a 3rd straight win over a top 10 player.

    Afterwards Lopez admitted he’d been on the brink and luck had played a large part “I was down 5-3 and he made a few mistakes in that game when I broke him. I took my chances and won this match. Winning a match from 5-2 in the 3rd is tough so it’s a big booster for me. I did it but I think I was a bit lucky.”

    Davydenko meanwhile was left to rue missed chances “It should have been my match. At 5-3 I thought I’d won but I made mistakes on a few points on my serve and he played pretty well, tried not to make any mistakes and just pushed the ball back.”

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