Mardy Fish proves his class to overpower Nikolay Davydenko at the US Open – Tennis Special
Seeded 23rd in this event, Mardy Fish made an epic comeback from two sets down to triumph over Russia’s Nikolay Davydenko in a five-set thriller at the Flushing Meadows 2012 on Thursday. He summed up a 4-6, 6-7(4), 6-2, 6-1, 6-2 victory against the 31-year-old to secure a place in the round of 32 at this final of the four Grand Slam events held in Queens in New York City, United States.
The American star showed top class tennis to stay in contention and eventually carve out the victory in their fifth meeting. As a result, Fish improved to a 3-2 lifetime in the FedEx ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Head 2 Head Series against the 31-year-old at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
"It's a big stage obviously just to win on, period," said the jubilant American in a courtside interview after conquering Davydenko. "But to be able to come back like that, especially against a great player, he's been to the semi-finals twice here. He's playing great tennis. His results recently haven't been where he's played consistently. He's sort of been up and down. Maybe that's what I was relying on a little bit, because he was playing great the first two sets."
The former world number three, Davydenko made a strong entry at the Arthur Ashe Stadium. He drew the first blood in the second game and leaped to a 3-0 lead. Apart from losing his edge in the ninth game, the Russian broke his opponent’s serve in the very next game and clinched the opener with a 6-4 score line.
In the following set, both challengers played brilliant tennis and held their respective serves. The set went to a tie-breaker where the lower ranked challenger prevailed and eventually clicked the set with a 7-6(4) win.
Fish rebounded in the third set and after getting the coveted break in the fourth game, he jumped to a 4-1 lead. After Davydenko held his serve in the sixth game, the American wiped out the last two games and consequently sealed the set by winning six games to two
Currently ranked 25th in the South African Airways ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour Rankings, Fish held his composure in the follow-up set. He got the critical break in the second game to take a 2-0 lead. Despite levelling the scores in the very next game, the American unleashed flurry of groundstrokes to pull out the equaliser with a breadstick.
The former Top 10, Fish went out of control in the final set which counted the most. He reeled off four games in a row before the Russian could hold on. The American swiped his remaining serves with poise and pocketed the set with a 6-2 success.
Fish will square off against the 16th seed, Gilles Simon, who rallied past the Taiwanese qualifier, Jimmy Wang, to reach this spot. The American fired 16 aces but clobbered a lower first serve share of 56 per cent as opposed to Davydenko’s 65 per cent. He stuck 46 winners but spilled 43 unforced errors which cost him two sets. Fish needs to improve his game in order to upset the seeded French.
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