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.
Pick: 1 unit (Single Dime) on Rafael Nadal ML @ -125 on 5Dimes