[Spes]

Nikolay Good luck against Massu in the semifinals. Good luck to you too, Roger

[rexman]

Funny the #4 in my group beat the #1.

[Spes]

Davydenko Reaches Semifinal Stage



Russia's Nikolay Davydenko has advanced to the semifinal stage here at the Tokyo Hardcourt Exhibition with relative ease. After receiving a walkover in his first match over Roger Federer, Davydenko was 1-0 in his round robin group.

"Yeah, I don't really know what happened with Roger. I think that we would have had a great match because he obviously finished second in our group so it's good that he still advanced. Me and him are great friends off of the court so I think it would be fantastic if I could meet him in the finals." Nikolay told us.

In his second match, Davydenko took on dangerous American, Andy Roddick. Roddick, who possesses a huge serve, didn't drop his serve once in the match. Of course, neither did Davydenko and both sets went to tiebreaks with Nikolay eventually winning it, 7-6(1), 7-6(3). This put him 2-0 in his group and officially assured him a semifinal berth.

"It was a very tough match. It was so hard to return his serve that I pretty much knew that each set would be a tiebreaker. Lucky for me, I was able to get his serve back a lot in the tiebreaks. It was obivous once the rallies got started who the more comfortable player was. I was glad that I served so well today because sometimes my serve can be a bit shaky. But it was all good today." Davydenko said following the match.

In his final match with the speedy Olivier Rochus, Nikolay decided that he would just go for it and have fun. What was there to lose, he was already a confirmed semifinalist? Davydenko played some of his best tennis and was able to outlast Rochus in a long match. Nikolay eventually took it 6-1, 6-4 and became the only player in the whole tournament to have a 3-0 record in round robin competition.

"I played great in that match. I know the scoreline seems like a blowout but we had some very tough points. We kind of have the same game, we are both grinders. I think that the extra power I can produce really helped me a lot today. I was able to overpower him in the end. He is a very good player."

Now, in the semifinal stage, Davydenko will take on Nicolas Massu of Chile. Massu, a fan of slower courts, ended up with a 2-1 record in his group, recording wins over Mario Ancic and Richard Gasquet. His lone loss came to the number one from the black group, Phillip Petzchner. We will update you after that match. Good luck Niko!

[Spes]

So what time will the semifinals be played?

[---Benny---]

wow
Even when you missed 1st match you could make semis

[TylerW]

Semis layter tonight.

[TylerW]

sorry guys i was busy, semis and finals tommorrow.

[TylerW]

Semifinal Results

Roger Federer def. Philipp Petzschner 7-5 0-6 6-0

Nikolay Davydenko def. Nicolas Massu 6-1 7-5(3)

Final Results

Nikolay Davydenko def. Roger Federer 7-6(6) 6-0

[rexman]

congrats Nikolay

[---Benny---]

Roger great tourney
Nikolay congrats
Now we had our match

[Spes]

Nikolay Didn't drop a set the whole tournament. Great match Roger!


(Hope we can win in LTT!)

[Éowyn]

being as mario and richard are both grass courters i think they both did pretty well