Nikolay Davydenko washes out Lukasz Kubot in 2nd round – Malaysian Open 2011
Former world No.3, Nikolay Davydenko moved into last eight of the Malaysian Open 2011 beating the Polish world No.57, Lukasz Kubot, in straight sets. Playing at the Putra Stadium, Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur, the Russian sensation
walked away with a win 6-3, 7-6(2) in an hour and 35 minutes and a berth in the quarterfinal of the ATP Tour 250 event.
Aged 30, Davydenko had superiority over the Polish as he had played all his previous matches on hard circuit. On the contrary, Kubot had all his prior 10 matches either on clay or grass. Other than that, the only things despaired
was the ranking between the two. Nonetheless the two put up a show worth the watch.
The match started off with Davydenko winning the service toss as Kubot stood to return the higher ranked counterpart. Serving out the first game, Davydenko went on to return for the first time, 1-0. Levelling up next the Polish
world No.57 won game 2 with a ravishing down-the-line backhand winner and switched the serve.
As the game went slow and steady, the Russian ignited as he won game 3 and broke the 29-year-old opponent to lead the set 3-1. However, it did not take the Polish long enough to break back, game 5, and level the scores winning
on his serve next, game 6.
Pressuring the 29-year-old, Davydenko kept on pushing forward until the 8thgame. Serving out game 7, 3-4, the world No.36 went of breaking his challenger and extending his lead to 5-3. With one game left on the board.
The 30-year-old mustered his own serve winning the set 6-3 and led the match 1-0.
Although Kubot could not succeed, however, he did scare the former world No.3 as he ripped off the second set. Starting off with serving first, the Polish world No.57 went on serving out the first game of the set. Levelling up
next, Davydenko won the second instant and switch the serve back, 1-0.
The two ignited when Kubot and Davydenko broke each other and equalled up at 2-2 with Kubot to serve next. Kubot extended his lead as he Served-broke-served next. With scores now at 5-2 in favour of the Polish, the Russian rose
up like a rocket to bombard the world No.57 with the same tactic.
Serve-break-serving, the 30-year-old Russian levelled up the scores at 5-5 and went for the kill. With the set eventually going into a tiebreak, Davydenko took his chance and sailed through the tiebreaker winning 7-2 and the set
7-6(2) to walk into the quarterfinal of the ATP Tour 250 event.
Davydenko, through to the round of 8, will now face the winner of the match between the third seed Janko Tipsarevic and Flavio Cipolla to battle out for a seat in the semis.
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