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4/24/09 5:55 AM | Ricky Dimon
Nikolay Davydenko and Radek Stepanek reach the Barcelona quarterfinals on Thursday afternoon. David Nalbandian also wins, but is later forced to withdraw due to a hip injury.
(3) Nikolay Davydenko d. (16) Feliciano Lopez 7-6(8), 3-6, 6-4
Back from a heel injury that plagued him throughout the first three months of this season, Davydenko punched his ticket into a second straight clay-court quarterfinal with a three-set win over Lopez on Thursday afternoon. Davydenko needed two hours and 42 minutes to set up a clash with Radek Stepanek in the quarterfinals of the Open Banco Sabadell in Barcelona. The third-seeded Russian, who reached last week's Monte-Carlo quarters before falling to Andy Murray, squandered all seven of the break-point chances he enjoyed in set one. He did, however, do a good job of serving to stay in the set at both 4-5 and 5-6. Davydenko then proved to be too tough on the big points in the tiebreaker, eventually prevailing 10-8. Lopez, who lost only six points in six service games during the first set, continued to dominate on serve in the second. Although the Spaniard did have to save one break point, he refused to drop serve a single time for the second conseuctive set and used two breaks of his own to force a decisive third. The No. 16 seed's second break allowed him to start the final set on serve, but it ended up doing him no good. Davydenko raised his level throughout the third and never faced a break point. His one break held up, as a closed out the proceedings with a routine--but clutch at the same time--service game at 5-4.
(9) Radek Stepanek d. (8) Stanislas Wawrinka 6-4, 1-6, 7-5
Wawrinka recovered from a brutal first set to make this one extremely competitive, but last week's Monte-Carlo runner-up still succumbed to Stepanek after two hours and 19 minutes. Despite serving at 88 percent in the opening frame of play, Wawrinka lost more than half of his first-serve points and got broken three times, failing to save any break points. The Swiss got two breaks of his own thanks to poor 51-percent serving by his opponent, but Wawrinka could not get a third as Stepanek held at 5-4 to close out the set. Refusing to go away mentally, Wawrinka completely turned his game around throughout the second. He jumped all over his opponent's serve and two breaks were more than enough to even the match as Wawrinka saved both of the break points he faced during the second. This time it was Stepanek's turn to reverse the momentum, and the Czech did with much-improved serving and increased aggressiveness on second-serve returns. A break, however, did not come until Stepanek capitalized on his fourth chance of the set with Wawrinka serving to stay in the proceedings at 5-6.
(7) David Nalbandian d. (10) Nicolas Almagro 6-3, 6-4
Nalbandian needed just one hour and three minutes to dispatch Almagro, but those were a few minutes too many. The seventh-seeded Argentine injured his hip late in the match and was eventually forced to withdraw from the tournament. With Nalbandian unable to contest what would have been a blockbuster quarterfinal clash, world No. 1 Rafael Nadal gets a free pass into the Barcelona semifinals. Nadal, who ousted Christophe Rochus 6-2, 6-0 on Thursday, will meet either Davydenko or Stepanek in a Saturday semifinal.
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