Nikolay Davydenko ends Edouard Roger-Vasselin’s run at 2011 Barcelona Open
Nikolay Davydenko of Russia scored a lopsided straight-sets win over French tennis player Edouard Roger-Vasselin, defeating his second round opponent to reach the third round of the 2011 Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell. The Russian, who is one of the best unseeded
players in the tournament, ended Roger-Vasselin’s hopes of a good run at the tournament by defeating the player 6-2, 7-6(11). The match lasted just a little over one hour and forty-eight minutes, as Nikolay Davydenko recorded his first meeting against the
World Number 144.
Nikolay Davydenko began the match extremely well, shattering Roger-Vasselin’s vain hopes for an easy victory over his opponent. Both players could not score any aces, but Roger-Vasselin put himself at a disadvantage by committing one double fault. He attempted
to take the upper hand over Davydenko several times by breaking him, but the Russian player thwarted all five of these attempts in the first set. On the contrary, Davydenko managed to break Edouard Roger-Vasselin twice out of four chances. The players fought
back and forth for four service and return games apiece, before Davydenko took ten points more than his French opponent to score a satisfactory 59 per cent. The Russian pro won the first set 6-2.
Although Davydenko took an early lead in the second set as well, he was quickly pulled back as Roger-Vasselin needled his way back into the competition by scoring two aces to extend his chances of winning. The French pro did not commit any double faults
in this set, although Davydenko made one such mistake. Roger-Vasselin was broken three times out of eight opportunities during the match, and took revenge on his Russian opponent by breaking the player thrice during the set. The two players rallied back and
forth, as Roger-Vasselin attempted desperately to push the match into a three-setter. He was, however, unsuccessful and his opponent managed to take seven points more than him to win the set 6-2. The final score-line was 6-2, 6-2.
Nikolay Davydenko will be facing clay court expert and eighth seed Nicolas Almagro in the third round of the tournament.
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