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10/30/08 2:33 PM | David Cox
Tomas Berdych aims to clinch a first ever win over Nikolay Davydenko on Thursday in Paris. The Czech has lost all seven of his previous matches with the fifth seed.
Berdych has been getting steadily closer, and their last round of 16 match in the 2007 Australian Open was extremely close. Berdych so nearly forced a fifth set but went down 5-7, 6-4, 6-1, 7-6(5).
Davydenko won convincingly 6-3, 6-2 in Cincinnati later that year but when they met on indoor clay in the Davis Cup quarters in April, Berdych was again so close. Having fallen two sets to one down, Davydenko rallied to force a fifth before Berdych had to retire with an ankle injury at 3-6, 6-2, 7-6, 3-6, 2-1 up.
This could be a great chance for Berdych. Davydenko looked below par against Ivan Ljubicic yesterday and had to pull out of St. Petersburg last week with wrist concerns. The Russian has been out of form for several months now; he hasn't really found his best tennis since he won a string of clay titles in the spring. He has had a few surprise losses recently, to Robby Ginepri, Marat Safin, and Gilles Muller at the US Open.
Berdych has two solid wins over Ginepri (6-4, 7-5) and Stanislas Wawrinka (6-3, 7-5) so far this week. He didn't serve particularly well against Ginepri, getting broken twice, but turned that around against the 12th-seeded Swiss, making 65% of his first serves.
Prediction: Berdych to score his first win against the Russian in straight sets
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Tomas Berdych 
Nikolay Davydenko 
BNP Paribas Masters