Sunday, July 26, 2009

[tennis] Its Mathieu vs Davydenko in Hamburg

World No. 39 Paul-Henry Mathieu reached his first ATP World Tour final since October 2008 after fighting past Uruguayan qualifier Pablo Cuevas 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 in the semi-finals of the International German Open, an ATP World Tour 500 tennis tournament in Hamburg.

In the final Mathieu will meet Russian No. 2 seed Nikolay Davydenko, who edged past Spaniard David Ferrer 7-5, 7-6(2). It was a match of missed opportunities for the sixth-seeded Ferrer, who served for both the first and second sets at 5-3 but was unable to capitalise on his chances as Davydenko fought back each time to claim victory after two hours and 13 minutes and improve to a 2-1 career lead against the Spaniard.

World No. 12 Davydenko will contest his first ATP World Tour final since November 2008, when he finished runner-up to Novak Djokovic at Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai – now the Barclays ATP Tour finals to be held at the O2 Arena in London. The right-hander has a 14-5 mark in ATP World Tour finals and takes a 3-3 head-to-head record into the clash with Mathieu, whom he lost to in their most recent clash at the Beijing Olympics in August 2008.

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