Nikolay Davydenko, the No. 5 seed, does not have the firepower on his serve that most of the other top men on the ATP Tour have. In fact, the 5-foot-10, 154-pound Russian averaged just 104 mph on his first serve in his match today against fellow Russian and No. 26 seed Dmitry Tursunov.
But what Davydenko does have is relentless, precise ground strokes that give him the ability to grind down opponents. Nicknamed “The Machine,’’ Davydenko stretched Tursinov from side to side on the baseline, causing him to, at one point, stretch out for a forehand and fall to the ground. Davydenko broke Tursinov early and never let up, winning 6-2, 7-6, 6-3.
Davydenko knows that he gives something up on his serve in terms of power. But the 27-year-old, who has finished in the Top 5 in the world the last three years and reached the semis here at the Open the past two, also knows that he can overwhelm an opponent like Tursinov if he’s on his game.
“I need to control the baseline, which I did today,’’ Davydenkno said after the match. In five meetings, Davydenko has never lost to Tursunov, his Russian Davis Cup teammate.
Davydenko jumped on Tursinov early in this match, breaking him in the third game with a classic Davydenko-constructed point, running Tursinov wide with a well-angled cross-court forehand, forcing a weak reply, and then firing an inside out forehand to the opposite corner for a winner. Davydenko, who can have a suffocating effect on his opponents, never let up on Tursinov’s serve, breaking him again to go up 4-1 and wracking up seven break point opportunities in the set.
Tursinov picked up his game in the second and was leading 5-2, but in typical Davydenko fashion, the No. 5 seed clawed his way back to send the second set into the breaker. At 2-2 in the breaker Davydenko ran Tursinov from side to side, finally hitting a cross-court forehand at such an angle, Tursinov was so stretched out he fell down while hitting his reply, allowing Davydenko to merely block the ball into the open court for a winner. Davydenko held on in the breaker with a inside-out forehand that stretched Tursinov to his backhand side, then a forehand winner cross-court.
While Davydenko has been one of the Tour’s most consistent players over the past three seasons, and he beat Rafael Nadal earlier this year to win Miami, he’s been struggling of late. He has failed to win back-to-back matches in four straight tournaments going back to Wimbledon in July. While he’s now won three matches here, he’s feeling the pressure to turn up his game, if for no other reason that to defend the ranking points that he won last year by reaching the semis here.
“I need to defend my points here,’’ he said. “If I can’t reach the semis here, I can’t be Top 5.’’
Davydenko has lost to Federer in the semis here at the Open the past two years. He will meet Federer this year in the quarters if both players advance to that round. Davydenko next plays Gilles Muller.
