World Tour Finals - Djokovic edges Davydenko

Eurosport - Mon, 23 Nov 20:50:00 2009

Defending champion Novak Djokovic was made to work hard by Nikolay Davydenko before securing a 3-6 6-4 7-5 victory in their opening match of the World Tour Finals.

Novak Djokovic of Serbia reacts during his ATP World Tour Finals first round tennis match against Nikolay Davydenko - 0

World number three Djokovic, winner of the end-of-season tournament in Shanghai last season, needed all his fighting spirit to get past the Russian in two hours and 47 minutes and confirmed many people's belief that he is the man to beat in London this week.

Both players, who also featured in last year's final, made a blistering start to the match with the opening exchanges showcasing some of the best of their skills.

Despite Djokovic looking marginally stronger on serve, it was Davydenko who drew first blood, breaking in the fifth game when his opponent sent a backhand down the line into the net.

The Russian quickly consolidated his lead before wrapping up the first set with another break, battering Djokovic into submission on the baseline throughout the game before sealing it with a forehand return of serve winner.

The Serb bounced back on serve in the second set, posting a couple of service holds to love early on before saving break points in the fifth game.

The improvement on serve seemed to instill more confidence in Djokovic as he used his ground strokes to good effect to break the deadlock.

Davydenko, hugely impressive off both wings throughout the night, eventually saw his forehand break down and sent one wide across court to concede his serve in the ninth game.

Djokovic needed little encouragement, taking the second set to level the match in the very next game when Davydenko again hit wide off his forehand.

A Djokovic break of serve in the first game of the third set appeared to leave Davydenko down and out, especially after a visit from the tournament doctor.

But the Russian refused to be beaten and stuck with Djokovic throughout before eventually taking advantage of a tight game when the Serb was serving for the match.

Davydenko broke back in the 10th game with a stunning backhand winner down the line, keeping the capacity crowd glued to their seats despite the clock approaching midnight.

But Djokovic broke back immediately to love as Davydenko missed a forehand, and when serving for the match a second time the Serb made no mistake as he wrapped up the win when the Russian hit a forehand long on a second serve return.

Pippa Davis / Eurosport

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  1. Новак­ Ђоков­ ић ће­ освој­ ити­ турни­ р!

    From panticmirjana, on Tue 24 Nov 11:19PM

  2. what error occurred??? improve on this service.

    BEL pa­ zed

    From Brian, on Tue 24 Nov 3:49PM

  3. go novak!!!!

    From hilla, on Tue 24 Nov 1:58PM

  4. Bravo Novak!

    From olja, on Tue 24 Nov 1:30PM

  5. I'm pretty sure Nadal will beat Davydenko but lose­ to Djokovic. Söderling will probably lose to Djokovic­ and I really have no idea what he will do against­ Davydenko.

    From Csaba, on Tue 24 Nov 12:50PM

  6. Davydenko proved again he's not here just to watch­ the others playing but he's a serious contender for­ the title. Djokovic is probably the guy who's right­ now playing the best tennis, but still Davydenko has­ almost beaten him yesterday: Nole showed a mental­ strenght I though he had loss at the beginning of the­ season, and Nikolay an extremely good tennis level.­ Actually the Russian has impressed me far more than­ Nadal, that's why I guess Davydenko can beat here­ Rafa and maybe it won't be neither that difficult.­ It could sound like a paradox, but for what I've­ seen so far in this group the weakest player seems to­ be the top seeded Nadal: Djokovic, Davydenko and­ Soderling are playing better than him, that's a­ fact.

    From simondi.filippo, on Tue 24 Nov 11:29AM

  7. I agree with Igor K comments. Many people here still­ think that Djokovic and Nadal and Murray and Federer­ can bagel anyone whenever they like. Well, they­ can't, not this year in London, they can't.­ What I do feel is that the fitness of both athletes was­ relatively poor and they looked exhausted by the end of­ the deciding set. Anyway, I was very happy to see 3 and­ a half of the 4 matches played so far, each one had­ great tennis for the most part. Good luck everyone!­ (but I still hope Federer wins :) ).

    From Csaba, on Tue 24 Nov 10:54AM
  8. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

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    From Second S, on Tue 24 Nov 10:48AM

  9. Good analysis Igor. What a match. Two players very­ unwilling to concede ground, stepping into every shot­ as much as possible. And if you had to pick just one­ highlight it'd be that brilliant down-the-line­ backhand by Davydenko on such a huge point. Class.­ Djoko showed a lot of mental strength and tennis talent­ in winning this match.
    Match of the tournament so far.

    From rhymes450, on Tue 24 Nov 10:18AM

  10. Udri Nole buraniju

    From beograd, on Tue 24 Nov 9:50AM

  11. Novak to win

    From vanja, on Tue 24 Nov 9:31AM

  12. Nole is the best! Samo napred Nole!

    From Katarina, on Tue 24 Nov 9:22AM

  13. Novak didn’t play so bad, as much as Nikolay was on­ tremendous good level, being able to attack precisely­ with force from almost lost positions. Novak`s serve­ could be better, yes, but It’s not easy to play someone­ who is able so fast to transform from defense to­ offense during almost every point. You have to put the­ pressure on such player as much as you can, from the­ beginning, during whole point.. Novak tried, but­ haven’t had any luck in first set, and maybe this­ number of matches played this year is crucial – he must­ be tired being under such pressure all the time. ..­ Davidenko lost concentration a little bit in a second,­ and that was enough for Novak.. This play of Nikolay­ was so much more aggressive compared to Nadal`s for­ instance (his last match with Nole), that everyone­ could see how hard is to beat the guy who doesn’t let­ you to lead the game.. Anyway old/new quality is­ reestablished for Novak.. Winning despite everything !­
    Go for it man ! winter holiday is comeing..in few days­ ;-)

    From Igor K, on Tue 24 Nov 9:11AM

  14. djokovic rocks london......he is the man to watch

    From Emmanuel, on Tue 24 Nov 8:43AM

  15. What great sportmanship - swapping shirts!!! Two great­ guys, two great players

    From malcolm, on Tue 24 Nov 8:32AM

  16. It's very important that Novak won although he­ played bad. He was calm in decisive moments and made­ some greats shots.The mark of real champoin.

    From cikias, on Tue 24 Nov 7:43AM

  17. Wow! How many thumbs down for *abdurrazeg a* comment­ and all other who support Novak! Just hope Novak will­ go further then Murray then we will have 100 thumbs­ down. But , who cares!!!

    From parisa011, on Tue 24 Nov 6:56AM

  18. Even when Djokovic does not play his best tennis he­ still a winner...picture of real CHAMPION.

    From Wogy, on Tue 24 Nov 6:28AM

  19. Even when Djokovic does not play his best tennis he­ still a winner...picture of real CHAMPION.

    From Wogy, on Tue 24 Nov 6:27AM

  20. UNBELEIVABLE !? I wake up early at 06.00 and watch­ EUROSPORT morning news on TV and...THERE IS NO REPORT­ FROM MATCH Djokovic - Davidenko !!?? Only­ Soderling-Nadal (played early afternoon). WHY, somebody­ is sleeping or what ? There is a MASTERS-8 tournament­ in London but journalist seems not works in the­ evening. SHAME ON YOU EUROSPORT !!!

    From cerevickia, on Tue 24 Nov 5:24AM
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