Nikolay Davydenko Battled The Odds in Memorable Fashion By Crushing Rafael Nadal in Qatar Open Final

DOHA: Russia’s Nikolay Davydenko yesterday battled the odds in memorable fashion to script a three-set win against world number two Rafael Nadal of Spain to bag the Qatar Open title and a handsome prize of $183,000.

After being mercilessly crushed in the first set, 27-year-old Davydenko saved match points twice in the second set to post a 0-6, 7-6 (10-8), 6-4 to walk away with the trophy for the first time in four attempts.

Ranked sixth in the world, Davydenko became only the second player after David Nalbandian of Argentina to beat world number one Roger Federer and Nadal in the same tournament on different occasions.

The Russian, who rarely smiles on court or off it, beat Federer and Nadal at the World Tour finals in London less than two months ago. In 2007, Nalbandian beat the world’s top two players at the Madrid and Paris Masters.

After the two hour and 43-minute battle, Davydenko was pleased as punch. “I was just fighting. I didn’t think I could win,” Davydenko said. “For every point I was fighting. And at the end it was just amazing.” Yesterday’s win was Davydenko’s 20th career title and also his second successive one after the Russian’s impressive win at the World Tour finals in London in November last season.

When asked if he could take away Nadal’s Australian Open title the Spaniard won in Melbourne last year, Davydenko said: “For three sets it’s really interesting. There it will be five sets. It’s different conditions — here it’s 18 degrees, cold and there it can be 30 degrees. It ought to be the same but when you get there it always feels different. But I have confidence, so we will see.” Nadal was also happy with his form, having won an exhbition series final in Abu Dhabi last week before reaching the Doha title clash.

“In this tournament, I came back to play my best tennis for a long time,” Nadal said. “Anyway I lost today. He played unbelievable tennis — he was just better,” the six-time Grand Slam champion said. Both players now head to Melbourne where they will take part in the Australian Open, the year’s first Grand Slam.

It remains to be seen whether Davydenko can repeat his sterling performance seen by more than 8,000 fans at the Khalifa Tennis Complex.