17. 10. 2009. ·
Second seed Novak Djokovic failed in attempt to reach his fifth ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final of the season after great fight on Saturday. No.6 seed Nikolay Davydenko won in three tight sets 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(1) in 3 hours and 2 minutes.
Djokovic opened the match with a love game. He saved three break points in the third and fifth game to stay ahead. At 5-4 Davydenko was serving to stay in the set, but couldn’t hold the pressure and handed Novak three break/set points. The Serb converted the second to take the first set 6-4 in 56 minutes.
Nole failed to convert his two opportunities for break in the fourth game of the second set. He survived a break point in the fifth game, but the Russian earned two more in the seventh, and broke Djokovic’s service for the first time in the match. Davydenko won the set 6-4, closing it out with the love game.
Both players had chances to break in the third set, first world no.4 in the sixth game, when he had 0-40 on Davydenko’s serve, and then the Russian in the next, when Djokovic saved two break points and held for 4-3. The set went to a tie-breaker. Davydenko played fantastic, he made four mini breaks (Nole only one) to win it 7-1.
Match statistics: winners (30-37), unforced errors (39-52), aces (5-5).
The 22-year-old Serb has a 66-18 match record on the 2009 tour season.
By reaching the semi-finals at the Shanghai ATP Masters 1000 presented by Rolex, Nole will get 360 ATP points and $152,000. He will improve his ranking to no.3 on October 19, surpassing Andy Murray.
Djokovic will next play at the Davidoff Swiss Indoors Basel in Switzerland. The ATP World Tour 500 tournament (Indoor Hard, € 1,755,000) starts on November 2.
