Roger Federer downs Nikolay Davydenko to reach the final – World Tennis Tournament 2012
Former world number one, Roger Federer, outclassed the Russian challenger, Nikolay Davydenko, in a three set nail-biter at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament 2012 on Saturday. The Swiss master penned down a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over his fellow 30-year-old to book a spot in the title-round at this ATP World Tour 500 series event held in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
World number 40 got the upper hand as he cruised to a 5-4 lead and then served to bag the opener in their 19th meeting. He then went 3-1 up in the second set before the world number three got back in action and edged him out.
After earning this victory, Federer improved to a 17-2 FedEx ATP Head 2 Head record against the Russian and stayed on track to reclaim his top spot at the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings.
"These are the kinds of matches you need to help your confidence," stated the Swiss Maestro after the match. "Everything started to get better midway through the second set, and that's very encouraging going into the final tomorrow."
Davydenko stepped in Ahoy Rotterdam with conviction and held his opening serve in the second game to tie the scores at 1-1. The Russian then held his composure and kept remaining serves after saving both breakpoints he came across. The veteran got the breakthrough in the ninth game and clinched the opening set with a 6-4 score line.
Top seeded Federer continued displaying dismal performance in the second set and went 1-3 down after losing his serve in the third game. However, he redeployed his strategy after this and went on a five games killing spree, eventually pulling out the equaliser with a 6-3 win.
The Swiss Ace lost his ways in the eighth game of the final set and trailed at 0-40. However, Federer hit back and not only kept his serve but also earned the critical break in the following game. Later, he held his serve once more and sealed the decider by winning six games to four.
Federer was quoted further, "Even though I was down 0-40, I knew it wasn't over and that I still had a shot. I had a winner's mindset. Sometimes you don't have those days, but [today], I believed I could still win and I think that got me over the finish line."
Next up for the highest ranked player of the tournament is the Argentinean number one, Juan Martin Del Potro, who crushed the world number seven Tomas Berdych with a breadstick to secure this place.
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