Russian Nikolay Davydenko reacts after missing a point against Roger Federer of Switzerland during their match of 2007 Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai Wednesday Nov. 14, 2007 in Shanghai, China. Federer won over Davydenko 6-4, 6-3.
Photo: AP, AP
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Davydenko Goes to the Maldives
Russian Nikolay Davydenko yielded to Roger Federer (6-4 6-3) in the second match of 2007 Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai and lost the last opportunity to reach semi-finals there. Also in the Red Group, Andy Roddick proved stronger than Fernando Gonzalez and was the first to advance to the play-off.
The 10-0 win-loss record of Roger Federer and Nikolay Davydenko didn’t inspire optimism and the chance that the trend would be broken in Shanghai was negligible. First of all, Davydenko is far from his best; second, the Swiss was strongly expected to manifest combatant spirit after the shocking failure to Gonzalez.
But Roger Federer didn’t appear particularly aggressive yesterday and the fight was relatively equal in the first set. He made 39 unforced errors during the match, but the Russian failed to benefit from them. And Davydenko was obviously tied by the end of the first set, which Federer noticed.
Although unconvincing against Davydenko, Federer pressurized in the right times to eventually come through. It was the second loss of the Russian, who had been beaten by U.S. Andy Roddick at the opening tie, so Davydenko followed Novak Djokovic out of the tournament.
“I am really very much tied after the long season, both mentally and physically. I will go to the Maldives soon, rest for a couple of days and then set to preparing to the Davis Cup final.”
The Davis Cup final starts November 30; the Russians will face the U.S. team that is the host party this time. The chance is it will be a real battle – U.S. leader Andy Roddick has very good days now.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Nov. 15, 2007
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