After four quiet days with expected results, Croatian Marin
Cilic produced a dramatic upset by defeating top seed Nikolay
Davydenko in the second round of the China Open yesterday.
The Russian world No 4's busy schedule finally caught up with
him in his 21st tournament of the season as he left the door ajar
for Cilic, who wrapped up victory 6-3, 6-4 for his first win
against a top-10 player.
Nikolay
Davydenko
"I am disappointed because I didn't play well," Davydenko said.
"Actually I felt very good before the match and I come to Beijing
to try to win the title, but I just cannot hit the ball well and
had a lot of mistakes.
"I cannot say the reason is that Cilic was great - I didn't see
him play anything great, he plays like everyone plays."
Davydenko struggled to find his range throughout the match with
24 unforced errors and a miserable first-serve percentage of
34.
Cilic won 41 of 58 points on serve, including three aces, for
victory in 74 minutes.
"I was overwhelmed because this is my first time to beat a
top-ten player," the 18-year-old Croatian rejoiced.
"I started very well and I was more relaxed than him. I served
very well; it helped me to get some points.
"For sure Davydenko didn't play good, so I just put pressure on
him and try to keep the match under my control."
A quarterfinalist in Beijing last year, Davydenko has neither
won a title nor reached a final this season, but he has
consistently reach the quarterfinals or better on 10 occasions,
most notably the semifinals of the French and US Opens.
"It's bad luck I didn't win a tournament," lamented the
energetic Russian.
"But I never lose my confidence. I have four events left this
year including two Master Series, so I will try to play good tennis
in the indoor season.
"I don't think I have played too many tournaments this year. I
like to keep my confidence by competing in as many tournaments as I
can.
"If I lost in the first round in a tournament, I will have more
time to prepare for the other, so I love my way on the tour."
Cilic, a two-time winner of the ATP Challenger circuit, will
next meet wild card Nicolas Kiefer of Germany for the first time in
the last eight.
Kiefer broke two times from three opportunities to beat French
No 7 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-3, 6-4 in 78 minutes.
(China Daily September 14, 2007)
