Nikolay Davydenko Into London Semis

Saturday 28th November 2009 - 10:00:54

Nikolay Davydenko played some great tennis at the O2 arena in London last night to take the second semi final spot and deny Novak Djokovic a chance to defend his ATP World Tour final title.

The Russian number one was facing Robin Soderling, the only man left in the competition who was yet to drop a set.

If Soderling won the match it would be Djokovic that would go with him into the knock out stage of the competition. However if Davydenko won in straight sets he would top the group and go through with Soderling.

But if he was to win in three sets he would proceed but Soderling would top the group. Both players started the match strongly on serve but it was to be the big hitting Swede that would face break points first.

But Davydenko failed to capitalise and that was his only chance throughout the opening set. At 6-6 the opening set went to a tie break.

The first six points of that tie break also went with serve but at 4-3 up a string of unforced errors from Soderling put Davydenko in the driving seat as he wrapped up the first set.

There was more serving dominance in the second but the pair continued to rally hard as Davydenko absorbed all of the Swede’s power as well as producing some of his own.

And it was Davydenko that got the first chance to break in the fifth but another thundering serve from Soderling put a stop to any ideas the Russian had of taking the advantage.

It was Soderling that broke first as he wrapped up the second set 4-6 to make sure that he would top Group B and avoid playing Federer in the semi final.

Into the decider and it was Davydenko that put his foot on the gas as he broke Soderling in the sixth game to open up a 4-2 advantage.

And that advantage proved to be enough as he wrapped up the match  7-6 (7-4) 4-6 6-3 to finish second in Group B.

So in today’s semi finals Nikolay Davydenko will face world number one Roger Federer, they play this afternoon.

In the second semi this evening it’s the clash of the big servers as Robin Soderling take on the U.S. Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro.

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw