Nicolas Almagro eases past Nikolay Davydenko into the quarters – German Tennis Championships 2012
Top seeded Spanish contestant, Nicolas Almagro, came across limited resistance from the former world number three, Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, thrashing him in straight sets 6-4, 6-3 in the second round at the Bet-at-home Open
German Tennis Championships in Hamburg on Thursday. The Spaniard required only an hour and 18 minutes to undo his Russian rival in an easy match.
In the first three games of the match, none of the two players broke the other, taking the score to 2-1 in favour of Almagro. The Spaniard claimed his initial breakthrough in the fourth and held his subsequent serve to gain a 4-1
lead. Serving to win the set at 5-3, Almagro lost his serve and his advantage was reduced to 4-5 but he struck again in the very next game to capture it 6-4.
Almagro neither hit an ace nor committed any double fault in the first set, keeping his first serve percentage at 68 and clinching 16 of the 19 points on them. The Spaniard gave a pathetic performance on the second ones, losing
six of the nine points. The right-hander also fared badly on the first returns, as he was able to convert just four of the 18 of them into points but he balanced that by capturing seven of the nine on the second ones. The 26-year-old could not put away the
only break threat he came across but utilised two of the three he created.
Davydenko drew the first blood in the second set, breaking the Spaniard in the opening game and winning his following serve to attain a 2-0 advantage. However, the Russian’s advantage did not last for long, as he was broken in
the fourth to level the proceedings at 2-2. Almagro went on his winning spree, claiming three more games to grab a 5-2 lead. Davydenko held his serve in the eighth to shorten the trail to 3-5 but he could not do anything else, going down 3-6.
Almagro pounded two aces this time but he also made three double faults. The Spaniard’s first serve percentage was low at 52 but he managed to clinch 13 of the 16 points on them. The Murcia, Spain resident could not do well on
his second deliveries once again, losing nine of the 15 points in the second set.
Ranked 10th in the world, Almagro is drawn to play the sixth seed, Philipp Kohlschreiber, in the quarter-finals.
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