Player of the Day: Nikolay Davydenko

Player of the Day
Nikolay Davydenko
Russia
Day 11

As the action in Week 2 of the US Open progressed, the prognosticators started embracing the idea of a Russian player reaching the semifinals.

The Marat Safin bandwagon was in high gear following his upset of No. 4 seed David Nalbandian in the second round. Safin, the 2000 US Open champ, was seen as a player that could make a deep run in the tournament if he just rediscovered the form that made him the world’s No. 1 player only a few years ago.

The bandwagon picked up steam after Safin defeated Olivier Rochus in the third round, and visions of a potential Safin-Roger Federer semifinal were dancing in tennis fans’ heads.

But the ride hit a German bug in the Round of 16, as Tommy Haas ousted Safin by winning a fifth-set tie-break.

Next up for Haas was another Russian, the less-captivating Nikolay Davydenko, who unlike Safin, has never enjoyed much success in Grand Slams. By reaching the quarterfinals he had achieved his best ever showing in the US Open, and he had only one major semifinal on his resume (2005 French Open).

Oddly enough, even with the ouster of Safin, the seventh-seeded Davydenko found himself hoping to become the second Russian player to move into the semifinals. That’s because a day earlier, Russian Davis Cup teammate Mikhail Youzhny had advanced by pulling the biggest upset of the tournament, defeating No. 2 seed Rafael Nadal.

Davydenko was coming off an impressive defeat of No. 17 seed and darkhorse pick Andy Murray of Scotland, but failed to carry the momentum over into the start of his match with Haas. The 14th-seeded German took the first two sets off Davydenko and appeared braced to make the match go the minimum distance.

But Davydenko stuck to his game and took the next set, 6-3, then broke Haas late in the fourth before serving out the win. All of the sudden the match was knotted and Davydenko seemed to be gaining the upper-hand. On top of that, Haas was feeling the fatigue of playing his third straight five-set match and it was evident he was wearing down physically with each point.

Davydenko saw his opportunity and pounced on it, streaking out to a 5-2 lead in the fifth and deciding set by converting on 3-of-4 break chances. At this point Haas was cramping and needed help from the trainer.

After a final flurry by the German was staved off, Davydenko had achieved his first-ever semifinal appearance in the US Open. Up next is a date with the top seed and two-time defending US Open champion Roger Federer.

There’s a good chance Davydenko will be prematurely counted out of that match by the pundits once again. But floating under the radar has served the Russian well to this point.