2011 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament, Nikolay Davydenko vs Michael Llodra preview
Playing at his first event since the Australian Open, Russian Nikolay Davydenko, takes on Michael Llodra, as he plays in his sixth year at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament.
Playing in its 38th edition, the 2011 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament, is the first ATP 500 level event of the season. Played on indoor hard courts, the tournament is annually held at the Ahoy Rotterdam indoor sporting arena.
Having dropped ten places after his abysmal first round exit in the 2011 Australian Open, Davydenko currently holds the 35th position in the South African Airways ATP Rankings. Playing at his second ATP Tour level event, Davydenko started the
year at the Qatar ExxonMobil in Doha in January.
A defending champion at the event then, Davydenko enjoyed a final run at the event including a rematch of the 2010 final match against Rafael Nadal in the semis.
However, Davydenko failed to defend his title as he fell to eventual champion, Roger Federer in straight sets.
His next tournament was the Grand Slam Down Under where Davydenko was seeded twenty-third in the main draw. Pitted against German Florian Mayer, Davydenko was the first seed casualty of the event as he was ousted by the former in four sets.
Coming to Rotterdam, Davydenko is playing there for his sixth straight year, but the Russian has never made it past the semi-finals. Always a seeded entry at the event, 2011 will be the first year when the Russian plays un-seeded in the main draw.
His debut at the event came in 2005 as the sixth seed. Moving past Fernando Verdasco and Tomas Berdych, Davydenko had made it to the quarterfinals before losing to eventual champion, Roger Federer.
His semi-final runs at the event came the next year when he made it all the way to the semis as the second seed before losing to eventual champion, Radek Stepanek. He again made it to the semis in 2007 losing to Ivan Ljubicic. His 2010 run at the event also
ended in the semi-finals when he was ousted by eventual champion, Robin Soderling.
Compared to Davydenko, Llodra is fairly new at the event since he is only playing in his fourth year. However, the Frenchman has much more to show for his shorter time here than the Russian.
Ranked 22nd in the world now, Llodra had made it all the way to the final in his debut run here in 2008. And if that wasn’t enough, Llodra had clinched the title here after doing away with Robin Soderling in three sets. The following two years
though Llodra was ousted from the event in early rounds.
Playing at his first ATP Tour level event for the season, Llodra comes from a second round exit at the 2011 Australian Open. Seeded 22nd there, Llodra enjoyed a four set win against Juan Ignacio Chela before being ousted by the rising Canadian
Milos Raonic in straight sets.
The pair’s first round match at Rotterdam is their seventh meeting on the courts with Davydenko leading the head-to-head 4-2.
However, Llodra currently enjoys a two game winning streak against the Russian. Also the two players are currently tied at a 2-2 head-to-head score on hard courts.
Prediction: Evenly matched, both Davydenko and Llodra stand equal chances of making it into the next round. However, should we choose a favourite it will probably be Davydenko since he not only enjoyed a final run in the season opener but
also has more experience when it comes to the stage at Rotterdam.
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