Novak Djokovic topples Nikolay Davydenko to reach last eight – Western & Southern Open 2012
Second seed, Novak Djokovic of Serbia, advanced to the quarter-finals, after his Russian opponent, Nikolay Davydenko, retired from their third round match with a shoulder injury.
Davydenko was struggling due to that problem from the beginning of the encounter but he kept on playing. However, he decided to forfeit the contest, after losing the first set 0-6.
The Russian was looking in good touch at this event, as he upset two higher ranked opponents in the first two matches. The former world number three stunned the 13th seed, Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine, in straight
sets 6-1, 6-1 in the first round. Currently, on the 50th position on the ATP Rankings, Davydenko thrashed Germany world number 24, Florian Mayer, 6-3, 6-3 in the second round.
Talking about the latest match, Djokovic comfortably held his opening serve to attain a 1-0 lead. Davydenko, feeling pain during his service action, went down 15-40 in the second game but bounced back to level the points at 40-40.
After that, he wasted a couple of game points and then failed to put away the third break threat, going down 0-2. The Russian player never managed to serve at his original standard after that, getting broken twice to lose 0-6.
Once he lost the opening set tamely, Davydenko understood that he would not be able to play to his potential even if he continues. The Russian contender decided to forfeit the match. The encounter lasted for just 32 minutes.
Davydenko’s serve statistics were horrible, as he made eight double faults and lost 10 of the 14 points on the second serves in a single set.
Djokovic was sympathetic towards Davydenko and the crowd, which came from a top quality match but faced disappointment due to Davydenko’s withdrawal.
The Serbian said, "His first serves didn't go over 90 miles per hour, so something obviously was wrong with his shoulder. It's unfortunate. It was a night session match and many people came to watch. Obviously I was also expecting
a good and interesting and tough match. It's the way it is. Hopefully he recovers for the US Open."
He added, "Obviously I don't want to win with injury of my opponent, but in this moment I try to gather as much energy as I can and save as much energy as I can and take one day actually at a time.”
Djokovic will face the 12th seed, Marin Cilic of Croatia, in the quarter-finals.
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