Golubev Ousts Top Seed Davydenko
Golubev Ousts Top Seed Davydenko
Andrey Golubev celebrated his 23rd birthday with a solid 6-4, 6-4 triumph over a defenseless Nikolay Davydenko on Thursday at the German International Open Championships in Hamburg. The surprising win left the battered draw in shambles as the event moved on to Friday’s quarterfinals.
With second seed David Ferrer and 4th seed Gael Monfils both forced to withdraw at the last minute, third seeded Austrian, Jurgen Melzer, takes over as the top surviving seed in Germany. For Davydenko, the loss was disappointing. The Russian has been working his way back to form after being derailed by a March left wrist injury. The Russian opened the 2010 season where he left off in 2009 by winning the Qatar ExxonMobil Open in Doha. The competitive Russian has been receiving therapy but still has a ways to go before once again becoming a serious contender.
The win for Golubev, the 82nd ranked tour player, marks just the second time the Kazakhstanian has won consecutive matches in a tour event. The victory is also Golubev’s second win over a top-ten tour player. In 2008, Andrey defeated former world number one Marat Safin at St. Petersburg in the semifinals before falling to Andy Murray in the finals.
Golubev will next face Uzbekistani’s Denis Istomin in the quarterfinals. Istomin ended a nice run by Germany’s stubborn wild card Julian Reister 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(3). In the second round, Reister had upset 11th seed Victor Hanescu of Roumania 7-6(4), 6-4 and had a strong German contingent rooting him home. Istomin and Golubev are good friends and oft times practice partners on the tour.
Third seeded Jurgen Melzer clawed his way past France’s Jeremy Chardy 7-5, 6-6 (3). The Austrian managed seven aces but was only able to convert on three of 14 break point opportunities against the scrambling Chardy. Melzer, the 15th ranked tour player, has logged an impressive first half of the season and boasts a heady 32-16 2010 record.
Melzer will next face the tour’s 72nd ranked player, Potitio Starace. The Italian fought his way past Spanish qualifier Pere Riba in three grueling sets, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 to quietly gain his fourth quarterfinal of the year.
Juan Carlos Ferrero eeked out a three set win over Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen 6-2, 3-6, 6-4. Ferrero, who seeks his third ATP World Tour Title will next meet another hometown favorite, Florian Mayer, who cruised past Argentina’s Maximo Gonzalez 7-6 (1), 6-0. Mayer is receiving the strongest fan support of any player in the tournament and will be a tough out for anyone.
Thomaz Bellucci had a score, or two, to settle with Germany’s tenth seeded Phillipp Kohlschreiber. The hard serving German had beaten the Brazilian the last two times they played. Bellucci seemed to feed off the crowd’s support for Phillipp in managing the 7-5, 6-4 upset.
Bellucci will round out the quarterfinals by facing off against Andreas Seppi, who reached the quarters for the second straight week with a convincing 6-4, 6-4 ninety minute brawl with fellow Italian Fabulous Fabio Fognini. The win was Seppi’s second consecutive triumph over his countrymate.
Friday shapes up to be a great day of tennis in Hamburg where crowds have been at a frenzied capacity every day. At this point, Melzer appears the favorite but you can throw away the seedings in this draw
Tags:
No Comments »
No comments yet.
RSS feed for comments on this post.
Leave a comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.