Nikolay Davydenko prevails over Gilles Muller in the second round – Moselle Open 2012
Seeded eighth, Nikolay Davydenko outgunned the Luxembourgian native, Gilles Muller in the second round of Moselle Open 2012 held at Metz, France. The Russian professional summed up his straight sets 7-5, 6-4 win on Thursday.
Both players have encountered each other for the fourth time and Davydenko maintained his 3-1 lead in the head-to-head series. Previously the left-hander, Muller defeated his rival 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(10) in the fourth round of
the US Open in the year 2008.
The 29-year-old, Muller held his first serve in the opener, taking maximum advantage of the situation and he brought the score to 2-1.Nonetheless, in the very next game the scores levelled down to 2-all. The Russian struggled hard
to secure the lead, which caused the score line levelled down three times. In the second last game he broke Muller’s serve and confidently nudged forward to secure a 7-5 lead.
The world number 66th Luxembourg professional fired five aces on his rival but had a lower initial serve presentation of 67 percent. He pocketed away 18 of 22 first and four of 11 second delivery points. The right-hander
Russian had a better initial serve presentation of 85 percent, with 21 of 28 first serve points. Fortunately, he capitalized one of the three serve breaks presented to him.
The second set progressed in a similar fashion as before and both the players encountered each other with strong resistances. The scores evened out to 2-all and 3-all by the end of the sixth game. The situation aroused an alarming
attack for the Russian, when the scoreboard again struck to 4-all in the eighth game. He then broke his rival’s serve, concluding the match with his 6-4 win.
Ranked 48th in the ATP World Rankings, Davydenko fired five aces and had lower initial serve presentation of 68 percent. He secured 16 of 21 first and six of 10 second delivery points. The lower ranked, Muller bombarded
his enemy with six aces and attained 15 of 20 first and three of nine second serve points. From the two break points bestowed, he was unable to snatch even one.
For the next match the Russian will contest against Ivo Karlovic.
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