Cedrik-Marcel Stebe eases past Nikolay Davydenko into 3rd round – German Tennis Championships 2011
Wild card entrant Cedrik-Marcel Stebe continued with his excellent form at the bet-at-home German Open Tennis Championships 2011 to effectively oust eleventh seed Nikolay Davydenko. The German has been in excellent form since the
tournament’s start at Hamburg and had earlier defeated World No. 64 Juan Carlos Ferrero in an effortless two set victory. The German has now securely positioned himself in the third round and can play from a position of strength based on his past performances.
Russian Davydenko, ranked at an impressive No. 29 has been at the top of his game. He won his 21st ATP World Tour title this season in Munich and has an infallible record of grabbing at least one ATP World Tour title since 9 consecutive
years. He had previously won the Hamburg title in 2009 in a final against Paul-Henri Mathieu. Before this match, the two players’ head to head ranking stood at a surprising 1-0 in Stebe’s account. They had last met at the clay courts of Stuttgart, Germany
where Stebe powered through 3-6, 6-1, and 6-4.
The match continued for a little under two hours, with Stebe emerging as the victor 6-3, 7-6(5).
Stebe had an aggressive lead right from the start of the first set making it almost impossible for Davydenko to fight back. Opening the game in prolific style, Stebe bagged two well beautifully executed aces and continued with
an unrelenting display of skill. Despite serving at a higher percentage of 73% than his opponent, Davydenko managed to win only 50% of his first serve points (11 off 22 serves). He also committed 3 criminally destructive double faults. Stebe sealed the set
at 6-3 by registering 3 back breaking breakpoints.
Davydenko fought back ferociously in the second set and managed to give a pretty tough time to Stebe. The set was very closely fought and could have gone either way till its very end. Again Davydenko served at a far greater percentage
than Stebe, but could only manage 17 first serve points against Stebe’s 21. Stebe again recorded 3 aces in this set. Davydenko was able to successfully convert 2 breakpoints while Stebe saved 4. The set was eventually decided by a tiebreak. Stebe trudged through
the tiebreak by securing 7 points, two more than his opponent as is required.
Stebe will now face off against eighth seed Fernando Verdasco in a highly anticipated third round match in Hamburg. Home crowds are sure to throng the stands in support of the unlikely hero.
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