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12/31/09 12:25 AM | Ricky Dimon
Nikolay Davydenko and Robin Soderling will headline the action on Day 1 in Abu Dhabi. Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal await the winners of Soderling vs. Stanislas Wawrinka and Davydenko vs. David Ferrer.
Tennis fans, your wait is over.
It's only an exhibition (a lucrative one, at that), but the Capitala World Tennis Championship gets going on Thursday to unofficially kick off the 2010 season on the final day of 2009.
Nikolay Davydenko and David Ferrer will contest the opening match of the six-man tournament after Ferrer answered the call to replace Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who suffered a minor injury in a recent practice.
"Davydenko is always a tough opponent, particularly considering how well he has been playing lately, and I’m looking forward to playing him again," Ferrer said of the Russian, who recently triumphed at the World Tour Finals. The Spaniard, ranked 11 places behind Davydenko at 17th in the world, is 1-2 lifetime against his opponent (exhibitions, of course, not included).
World No. 2 Rafael Nadal awaits the Davydenko-Ferrer winner. "Rafa and I are great friends it would be fantastic to meet him in the semifinal," Ferrer added. "Rafa said the stadium atmosphere inAbu Dhabi last year was very exciting and he received a lot of support from the Spanish fans."
Robin Soderling, a semifinalist at the Masters Cup, will contest Thursday's nightcap against Stanislas Wawrinka. Soderling and Wawrinka have split a pair of hard-court meetings during their careers.
World No. 1 Roger Federer will take on the winner. Soderling is 0-12 lifetime against Federer, to whom he lost in the French Open final.
"As any player will tell you, coming up against Roger in a Grand Slam final is always difficult," the eighth-ranked Swede explained. "But I'm now very much looking forward to the possibility of playing against him in Abu Dhabi and hopefully going one step better."
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