Blustery day fails to deny Davydenko

July 15, 2006, 1:35AM
Blustery day fails to deny Davydenko
Top seed reaches Swedish semifinals by beating Massu


BASTAD, SWEDEN - Top-seeded Nikolay Davydenko beat Nicolas Massu 6-4, 6-3 on Friday to reach the semifinals of the Swedish Open.

"I'm very happy to have reached my first semifinal in Bastad," Davydenko said. "It was difficult to control the ball because of the strong winds, but I still managed to play well."

The Russian will play Agustin Calleri of Argentina, a 6-4, 6-4 winner over Robin Soderling, the last Swede left in the clay-court event. Second-seeded Tommy Robredo of Spain also advanced to today's semifinals, beating qualifier Evgeny Korolev 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.

Robredo will meet fourth-seeded Jarkko Nieminen of Finland, who ousted former top-ranked player Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain 7-6 (5), 6-2.

After losing the first set, Robredo broke the 18-year-old Russian in the opening game and the last game at love. In the decisive set, Robredo broke to lead 2-0 and then held the rest of the way.

"This time I want to make the final after losing three times in the semis here," Robredo said.

Davydenko broke to lead 2-1 with a backhand return, which was all he needed to take the opening set. In the second set, he broke the Chilean 1-0 and then again to love for a 5-2 lead.

Ranked a career-best No. 5, Davydenko reached his ninth quarterfinal of the year.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/ten/4048731.html