2011 Qatar ExxonMobil Open: Thursday Singles Review of the Evening Session
Set at the Khalifa International Tennis Complex, the quarterfinal round of the 2011 Qatar ExxonMobil Open wrapped up on Thursday with the remaining clashes scheduled for the evening session.
With Roger Federer and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga already securing their berths in the semis, only two spots now remained.
Kicking off the evening session was defending champion Nikolay Davydenko. Davydenko enjoyed a title win at Doha last year after back-to-back victories against the Top 2 defeating Federer in the semis and then Rafael “Rafa” Nadal
in the final, making him the only player other than David Nalbandian to accomplish this feat.
Determined to defend his title at the event, Davydenko started his run on Monday, 3rd January, playing Italian Fabio Fognini. Enjoying a 6-4 win in the first set, Davydenko wrapped up his opening clash with a breadstick
win in the second set. He moved on to meet Jarkko Nieminen in the second round, playing the Finn on Wednesday, 5th January. After a hard fought battle between the two, Davydenko was able to continue his title defence doing away the Finn in straight
sets, registering a 6-4, 7-5 score for the match. Davydenko entered the quarterfinal round to play the only unseeded player left in the event, Ivo Karlovic.
Once again fighting to keep his dreams of a title defence alive, Davydenko had to battle past fifteen aces from the Croat to secure a straight sets victory. In a match that lasted 76 minutes, the Russian enjoyed a 6-3 score in
the first set before wrapping up the match with a 7-5 in the second set.
In a rematch of the 2010 Doha final, Davydenko is set to play Nadal in the semis since the latter also progressed in the event owing to his victory over Ernests Gulbis.
Ranked first in the world, Nadal is the top seed at the event. Having started his title run on Monday, Nadal played compatriots Karol Beck and Lukas Lacko in the first and second round respectively. Although the top Spaniard enjoyed
a straight set victory over Beck, he hit a minor bump against Lacko suffering a bagel set loss in the second set. However, bouncing back in the third, Rafa was able to secure a spot for himself in the quarterfinals.
Entering the match, Nadal already enjoyed a landslide 3-0 lead over Gulbis in the pair’s head-to-head. After his two-hour meeting with the fifth seeded Latvian, Rafa was able to extend this lead to 4-0.
In the first set, Gulbis managed to take the set into a tiebreaker. However, with excellent returns and powerful serves, Nadal was able to clinch a 7-3 victory. He continued his form into the second set to wrap up the match with
a 6-3 win.
Given the disparity in their rankings, it came as much surprise to the fans when Gulbis put up resistance in what should have been a breezy victory.
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