Nicolas Almagro scores straight-sets win over Nikolay Davydenko at third round of Barcelona Open
Nicolas Almagro of Spain defeated Russian tennis player Nikolay Davydenko in tight straights at the 2011 Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell, scoring a victory over the former World Number 3 to lock a place for himself in the quarterfinals
of the event. Almagro, who has recently been hailed as a menace on clay, scored a 7-6(2), 6-3 win over Davydenko. The eighth seed took a little under one hour and forty minutes to send Davydenko home with a straight-sets loss.
This is a significant victory for Almagro, as Davydenko is considered to be one of the most experienced players on the Association of Tennis Professionals. Although he is ranked much lower than the Spaniard at World Number 39,
the Russian has recorded impressive wins over many top players, and maintains a winning record against World Number 1, the King of Clay Rafael Nadal.
The Spanish tennis pro played well in the first set of the match, scoring five aces and committing just one double fault. He also managed to convert two of three break points successfully, although Davydenko fought back and broke
Almagro twice out of six opportunities as well. The Spaniard eventually won the set after a tie-breaking game, taking seven points more than Nikolay Davydenko to set up a 7-6(2) score-line in the first set.
The second set was an easier one for Nicolas Almagro, particularly because Nikolay Davydenko seemed to have lost heart at this point. The Spanish tennis player broke his opponent just one time in this set, but managed to remain
unbroken throughout the remainder of the match. He took eight points more than his opponent and won the set 6-3, with an impressive 58 per cent of the total points in the set.
The Spanish player has now managed to take the lead in their head-to-head record, which was previously tied at 1 all. It has now shifted to 2-1 for Nicolas Almagro. The pro will take on Juan Carlos Ferrero in the quarterfinals,
after his compatriot defeated French qualifier Simone Vagnozzi in the round of the last 16.
Tags: