TENNIS in DEPTH.

Nicolay Davydenko, the iron-man of tennis, lived up to his nickname as with only 15 hours of rest he was back on court to challenge for a place in the ATP Tour final against the #1 player Roger Federer. In their previous 12 meetings Davydenko had never beated Federer, but today he changed all that as he won 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 to move on to the final, where he will meet the winner of the Soderling/Del Potro contest.

Davydenko’s ground strokes put so much pressure on Federer forcing the Swiss magician to play almost the entire match from deep in the court, often 6-10 feet behind the baseline. The Russian outplayed Federer at the net winning 80% of his volley attempts. He played a smart game of tennis, and stuck to his game plan despite Federer’s better showing in the second and third sets.

This will be second straight year that Davydenko has made it to the final, in 2008 he lost to Djokovic.

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• Routine wins for the top seeded men.

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