ATP Doha - Rafael Nadal vs Nikolay Davydenko

The world is absolutly pounding Davydenko in here and that pounding is so huge that Nadal’s odds are now in the 1.80’s. This is the problem of only looking to one side of the plate. Davydenko defeated Federer and he is in good form, but people are completely forgetting how amazing Nadal was the whole week.

Rafael Nadal absolutely destroyed all players in sight on his first four matches this week, with 6-3 6-3, 6-2 6-2, 6-1 2-0 ret. and 6-1 6-3 wins over really decent players like Simone Bolelli and Viktor Troicki. Nadal moved much better than he did in the last fall and especially played more aggressively, with his backhand striking extremely powerful winner s from every side of the court. The Spanish player is obviously motivated to do well in this early season to make people forget how terrible he was in the second half of last season and he is doing a great job in that, as he is now clearly one of the  three biggest contenders to win the Australian Open, when until last week he was almost out of contention.

On the other side, Davydenko surely defeated Federer, but the Swiss once again struggled to play at an acceptable level, especially on his serve. The Russian played extremely well during the whole week, but honestly I think Nadal played at an even better level and most important that that, Nadal won’t have a letdown today, while Davydenko may realy have one. At least I would call it hugely unlikely to see Davydenko putting all his first serves in like he did in the 1st set against Federer. It is extremely difficult for a player to beat Federer and Nadal is back to back days and especially, when Nadal is already looking to be at his best level. When he is in form, Nadal is an overall better player than Davydenko no matter in what form the Russian player is. Yes, Davydenko is a tricky matchup for Nadal, but the Spanish with his amazing defensive skills is also a really tough matchup for Davydenko.

The head to head at currently tied 4-4, with Davydenko leading it 4-1 on matches played outside clay. However, note that Nadal was clearly injured or out of form in three of these four matches and just in Miami, Davydenko was able to outplay Nadal. The Spanish player on his best form is almost unstoppable and as much as Davydenko is also in good form, Nadal is simply better and should get the win in here, especially considering his amazing 36-11 record in finals. Take Nadal to win in here.

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