Janko Tipsarevic moves into semi-final as Nikolay Davydenko retires – Malaysian Open 2011
World number seventeen and third seed, Serbian Janko Tipsarevic moved into the semi-final of the 2011 Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Friday, 30th September after the former world number three and fifth seed
here, Nikolay Davydenko retired from the match citing a hamstring injury.
The two players hit the courts for only twenty one minutes before the Russian handed over a retirement victory to the Serb and an easy berth in the semi-final of the event. In the little time that the two battled it out, Tipsarevic
was a break up leading the first set score 3-1.
They say third time is the charm, and what a charm it was for the third seeded Serb. Coming into the match, Tipsarevic was trailing 0-2 in the head-to-head against the Russian having lost in the semi-final at Moscow in 2007 and
then in the quarterfinal at Doha in 2008. However, third time around, Tipsarevic had finally reduced the deficit to 1-2.
Winning the toss, Davydenko had opened serve. However, the hard hitting Serb returned on a strong note as he converted an early breakpoint to lead 1-0. Broken on his service in the second game, Tipsarevic stood at a levelled one
game each with the Russian. Following another breakpoint, Tipsarevic led the score 2-1. Minutes later, the Serb served out the fourth game with no point loss to lead 3-1.
At this point, the Russian called for a medical time out as he consulted his medical examiner. After a few minutes, the Russian walked back onto the court only to shake hands with the chair umpire and the Serb as he retired from
the match.
As Davydenko makes his way to the locker rooms, the Serb enjoyed his easy victory as he now moved into the semi-final round.
Playing Tipsarevic in the semi-final will be either the top seeded Spaniard Nicolas Almagro or the rising Japanese star, Kei Nishikori. The pair follow Tipsarevic on the courts to settle their own quarterfinal match. All signs
point towards a Almagro Tipsarevic semi-final since the former is expected to blast past the Japanese with much ease.
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