Davydenko Dominates Dominator in Paris Final
Posted on November 6, 2006Fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko dominated Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 to win the Paris Masters on Sunday, the final day of the regular ATP season.
With the win, his fifth title of the year, Davydeno moved to No. 3 in the ATP race.
"It feels amazing," Davydenko said of his first career Masters title. "Making a semifinal or final is okay, but nobody really cares. But if you win the title, the first Masters Series title of your career, that's completely different. Winning the first Masters title at the end of the year is very important for me."
The 25-year-old Russian is now tied for second with James Blake and Rafael Nadal with five titles, and behind Roger Federer, who has won 11 titles in 2006.
Davydenko dominated Hrbaty in all facets of the match, clipping 31 winners to 11 and forcing the Slovak into error 30 times, while committing only 11 forced errors himself. Davydenko saved all seven break points he faced while converting six of 13 break point opportunities on the serve of Hrbaty, who put just 45 percent of first serves into play.
Hrbaty was appearing in his first ATP final since February 2004 at Marseille.
"With the style that he's playing from the baseline, I don't think I've played against a guy who played a better match like he did today," said the 28-year-old Hrbary who drops to 1-4 against Davydenko. "Basically, I didn't have any chances. Everything was so quick, and he played so fast, that I was just one step always behind the shot. Even if I tried to make him move, he was always there, so it wasn't easy."
The Paris tournament, one of the nine largest on the ATP circuit, made headlines for the absence of five of the top six players, who all withdrew from the event for various reason.
The top eight players, including Davydenko, now head for the year-end Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai which begins next week.
"The win gives me a lot of confidence for Shanghai, where last year I made the semifinals," added Davydenko. "It's very important to go into Masters Cup winning matches and I'll try to play my best there."
In the doubles final, local fans didn't go home empty-handed as the French tandem of Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra picked up their first title of the year with a 7-6(4), 6-2 win over Fabrice Santoro and Nenad Zimonjic. The pair is the second all-French team to take the Paris title in five years.
With the win, his fifth title of the year, Davydeno moved to No. 3 in the ATP race.
"It feels amazing," Davydenko said of his first career Masters title. "Making a semifinal or final is okay, but nobody really cares. But if you win the title, the first Masters Series title of your career, that's completely different. Winning the first Masters title at the end of the year is very important for me."
The 25-year-old Russian is now tied for second with James Blake and Rafael Nadal with five titles, and behind Roger Federer, who has won 11 titles in 2006.
Davydenko dominated Hrbaty in all facets of the match, clipping 31 winners to 11 and forcing the Slovak into error 30 times, while committing only 11 forced errors himself. Davydenko saved all seven break points he faced while converting six of 13 break point opportunities on the serve of Hrbaty, who put just 45 percent of first serves into play.
Hrbaty was appearing in his first ATP final since February 2004 at Marseille.
"With the style that he's playing from the baseline, I don't think I've played against a guy who played a better match like he did today," said the 28-year-old Hrbary who drops to 1-4 against Davydenko. "Basically, I didn't have any chances. Everything was so quick, and he played so fast, that I was just one step always behind the shot. Even if I tried to make him move, he was always there, so it wasn't easy."
The Paris tournament, one of the nine largest on the ATP circuit, made headlines for the absence of five of the top six players, who all withdrew from the event for various reason.
The top eight players, including Davydenko, now head for the year-end Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai which begins next week.
"The win gives me a lot of confidence for Shanghai, where last year I made the semifinals," added Davydenko. "It's very important to go into Masters Cup winning matches and I'll try to play my best there."
In the doubles final, local fans didn't go home empty-handed as the French tandem of Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra picked up their first title of the year with a 7-6(4), 6-2 win over Fabrice Santoro and Nenad Zimonjic. The pair is the second all-French team to take the Paris title in five years.