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  • Rogers Cup Second Round: Nikolay Davydenko vs. Tommy Haas

    7/23/08 5:02 AM | Ricky Dimon
    - Familiar foes will do battle in a marquee matchup on Wednesday in Toronto. It's Nikolay Davydenko vs. Tommy Haas for a spot in the Rogers Cup third round.

    Tuesday play in Toronto gets started with a bang as Nikolay Davydenko and Tommy Haas will be the first to do battle on the Grandstand. Davydenko and Haas are no strangers to meeting each other in huge matches. In fact this will be the first time they square off outside of a Grand Slam. The Russian has eliminated Haas from each of the last two U.S. Opens, both times in the quarterfinals. Davydenko also prevailed at the 2005 French Open, while Haas scored his only victory in four tries at the 2007 Australian Open.

    Normally Davydenko would be a considerable favorite, but it's hard to tell just what his form is like at the moment. He has not played since Wimbledon, which for Davydenko--who plays arguably more tennis than anyone else on tour--is an ocean of time. The Russian crashed out of the French Open in round three to Ivan Ljubicic, righted the ship by winning Warsaw, but then laid an egg in the first round of Wimbledon against Benjamin Becker. Which Davydenko will show up in Toronto: the rock solid one we are accustomed to and the one that captured titles in Warsaw and Miami, or the one who reared his ugly head in Paris and London?

    Chances are we know what we're going to get from Haas. The German had injury problems (what's new?) early in the summer, but he reached the third round of Wimbledon and the quarterfinals last week in Indianapolis, where he was up a set and a break on eventual champion Gilles Simon before losing control. In his first match this week he destroyed Carlos Moya 6-3, 6-2 and dropped only six points on serve.

    If Haas keeps up that kind of serving, he definitely has a chance to pull off the upset by not letting Davydenko get into a rhythm of baseline rallies. But if the No. 4 seed gets a lot of second-serve looks and plays more aggressively, he could take care of Haas in relatively simple fashion. The bet here is that this turns out to be a three-set thriller and don't be surprised if the upset occurs.

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