Tennis World
Davydenko, Hewitt Fall in Hamburg and Atlanta
Nikolay Davydenko continues to struggle with his form since coming back from a broken wrist that kept him out of the game for two months. The latest setback came in Hamburg yesterday, where he lost to birthday boy Andrey Golubev 6-4, 6-4. "For me it’s the first time to beat a Top 10 guy like Nikolay," a delighted Golubev said Golubev. "We met before once in Estoril. Now I was really concentrated. It’s my birthday today, and I wanted to [give myself] a gift. Indeed, I’m very happy because I played very well."
The Russian was the only seed to fall on Thursday. Seeds Juan Carlos Ferrero, Jurgen Melzer and Thomaz Bellucci all advanced to the quarter-finals with relatively easy victories, although Ferrero was pushed hard by Jarko Nieminen.
In Atlanta Lleyton Hewitt was stunned by Slovakian Lukas Lacko, who broke the former world number one five times in a 6-4, 6-2 victory. Hewitt admitted afterwards that he’s been struggling win the latest in a long line of injuries, and Lacko happily took advantage of the Australian’s struggles. “I played a good ending to the first set, and after breaking in the second, he seemed like he had some minor problems,” he said. “He needed a couple more steps on his strokes. He was late everywhere. I took advantage of this. I tried to be focused only, to hold the serve, not to make his mistakes and make him run.”
Number one seed Andy Roddick made a confident start to his Atlanta campaign, not dropping serve once in a 6-1, 6-7, 6-3 victory over Rajeev Ram. South African Kevin Anderson also won his match against Donald Young.
