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  • Rogers Cup Third Round: Nikolay Davydenko vs. Nicolas Kiefer

    7/24/08 8:09 AM | Ricky Dimon
    - Nikolay Davydenko and Nicolas Kiefer will battle for a spot in the Rogers Cup quarterfinals on Thursday. Grueling baseline rallies between these two veteran grinders should be expected.

    It will be the fourth head-to-head meeting between Nikolay Davydenko and Nicolas Kiefer when the two veterans clash in the third round of the Rogers Cup on Thursday afternoon. Somewhat surprisingly, Kiefer holds a 2-1 edge over Davydenko in their matches. The German ousted Daydenko from the Masters Series Hamburg earlier this season in straight sets and scored a blowout victory on the carpet of St. Petersburg back in 2005. In their only previous hard-court encounter, however Davydenko trumped Kiefer 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 at last year's U.S. Open.

    Normally Davydenko would be a considerable favorite to dispose of Kiefer yet again on hard courts, but it's hard to tell just what his form is like at the moment. 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. Davydenko was back to his good self in the first round, posting a solid 6-3, 7-6(6) win over Tommy Haas, so that bodes well for his prospects in Toronto.

    Davydenko better not revert back to his Wimbledon form if he wants to stave off this upset bid, because Kiefer is playing well right now. After starting out slowly in 2008, Kiefer began righting the ship in May. He reached the quarterfinals in Hamburg, the semifinals in Halle, and the third round of Wimbledon. The No. 37 player in the world has been impressive so far this week. On Monday he scored a nice 7-5, 7-6(4) win over Mardy Fish and he followed that up with a mirror image 7-6(4), 7-5 decision over Mikhail Youzhny.

    If Kiefer serves like he did against Youzhny (11 aces), he will have a chance in this one. He needs to because Davydenko will have an edge in speed and consistency in baseline rallies. Not a huge one, but enough to win in two tight sets unless Kiefer's serve is on fire.

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