Article

  • Warsaw Quarterfinal: Nikolay Davydenko vs. Evgeny Korolev

    6/13/08 6:21 AM | Ricky Dimon
    -
    It will be an all-Russian affair when Nikolay Davydenko meets Evgeny Korolev in Warsaw on Friday afternoon. At stake is a berth in the semifinals, where the winner will take on either Guillermo Canas or Fabio Fognini.

    Nikolay Davydenko and Evgeny Korolev will do battle for the third time in their careers when they square off in the semifinals of the Orange Warsaw Open. It's their first encounter on clay. Korolev won the first meeting 6-4, 7-6(6) on the hard courts of Marseille in 2006 and Davydenko got revenge in the first round of Wimbledon last year by a 7-6(12), 6-4, 7-6(5) decision.

    Clay is definitely more advantageous to Davydenko, but Korolev has done quite well for himself on the red stuff through two matches in Warsaw. He eased past Victor Hanescu 6-4, 6-2 in the opening round and then led accomplished dirtballer Potito Starace 7-4, 4-0 when the Italian retired due to injury. For the most part though, stellar results have been few and far between for Korolev this season. He did, however, reach the semifinals in Valencia two months ago and he also scored an impressive win over Robin Soderling in Rome.

    Shocking Davydenko on Friday would be Korolev's biggest win in 2008. The top seed has been in fine form this year--he even won the Masters Series Miami title--and he will be hungry to turn things around after a shocking third-round loss to Ivan Ljubicic at the French Open. So far he is doing just that this week. Davydenko blasted Pablo Cuevas 6-3, 6-2 in the opening round and then righted the ship after a surprising first set against Jiri Vanek to get past the 30-year-old Czech 4-6, 7-5, 6-1.

    Korolev definitely has the power with both his serve and groundstrokes to give Davydenko some trouble and an upset is not out of the question if he serves extremely well. The No. 4 player in the world, however, will most likely be too rock solid from the back of the court and the slow surface should help his efforts. Davydenko in two tight sets is the pick.

Check out Nikolay Davydenko and Evgeny Korolev head-to-head statistics
Tell a friend »

Other articles related to the tournament

Click here fore more articles

Comments


Write comment

You have to be logged in to comment. If you do not have an account, click here to register. It only takes a minute and you'll be redirected back to this page.
Username:

Password:

Expekt.com offers you the widest range and best odds on all tennis matches. Click here to bet and check all the latest tennis odds from expekt.com

Did you know that... Andre Agassi has won all four Grand Slam tournaments.

Register for newsletter:

Poll

The ATP season is
Too long
Fine as it is
Too short

Poll archive

Articles - Latest commented

Blog - Latest commented

Tell a friend

Your name:

Friend's name:

Friend's email:

Other tennis links

Related articles

ru  Nikolay Davydenko ru  Evgeny Korolev
Orange Warsaw Open  Orange Warsaw Open