Davydenko v Calleri in New Haven Final

Tenth seed Agustin Calleri of Argentina beat No. 13 Xavier Malisse of Belgium in the quarterfinals Friday, when the Belgian had to retire with a right elbow injury trailing 6-2.

It was the first ATP meeting for the duo. Calleri improved his record for the year to 29-15, while Malisse fell to 26-19.

Calleri is playing in his second final of the year. He won the title at Kitzbuhel in July (d. Chela) and has captured 17 of his last 20 matches. He has an INDESIT ATP Ranking of No. 32.

Calleri has played in seven finals during his eight-year ATP career and won two of them. In addition to Kitzbuhel this year, Calleri took the crown at Acapulco in 2003 (d. Zabaleta).

In the final Saturday, Calleri will play No. 2 seed Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, who beat No. 15 seed Robin Soderling of Sweden 7-6(6), 6-2 in the other semifinal Friday.

Davydenko broke Soderling five times and was broken three times himself. The victor garnered 80 points, compared to 70 for the vanquished.

Davydenko now has a 2-1 career edge over Soderling. Davydenko lifted his 2006 record to 48-22. Soderling slid to 25-17.

Davydenko has won 13 of his last 17 matches. He has an INDESIT ATP Ranking of No. 7.

This is his fifth final of the year. He won titles at Poertschach in May (d. Pavel) and Sopot earlier this month (d. Mayer). He also was runner-up at Estoril in May (l. to Nalbandian) and at Bastad last month (l. to Robredo).

Davydenko has played in 10 finals in his career and won seven of them. This is the fourth year in a row in which he has captured at least one title.

Davydenko has a 3-0 career edge over Calleri, including wins at Bastad and Sydney this year.
-- ATP