Tennis: Davydenko to meet Blake in semifinal

Second-seeded Nikolay Davydenko of Russia beat Mardy Fish 6-4, 6-3 on Friday at the Estoril Open. The 2003 champion will now play fourth seed James Blake in the semi-finals, after Blake defeated Florent Serra of France.

NikolayDavydenkoofRussiaeyestheball
duringhisEstorilTennisOpenmatchagainst
MardyFishoftheU.S.,inLisbonMay8,
2009.REUTERS/HugoCorreia

Davydenko took the favorites' role against the sixth-seeded Fish, who was making his Estoril debut.

It was only Davydenko's fifth tournament of the year after a two-month lay-off due to a heel injury. But he started strongly, taking the opener 6-4. The Russian broke Fish's serve again in the second set. A sharp backhand winner down the line gave the Russian a 6-4, 6-3 victory.

James Blake looked to earn the right to face Davydenko in the semi-finals. The American fourth seed, playing against Florent Serra, was soon 3-1 down in the first set. But he quickly fought back, winning eight consecutive games to take the set 6-4.

Davydenko to play Ferrero in Estoril Open

LISBON, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Nikolay Davydenko and Juan Carlos Ferrero set up a Wednesday battle of former champions at the Estoril Open.

Second seed Nikolay Davydenko, the 2003 champion who lost finals in 2006 to David Nalbandian and in 2007 to Roger Federer rallied back after trailing two breaks in the second set to emerge a 6-1, 7-6 (7-4) victory over Andrey Golubev in opening round.

Ferrero, the champion eight years ago on the clay of the Estadio Nacional, booked his spot by beating Mikhail Kukushkin 7-6 (7-4),6-3.

Ferrero, a former number one, last month claimed his first title since 2003 when he won Casablanca. The 29-year-old part-time hotelier has won two of his previous three matches against Davydenko, the last contested in 2005.

Spain's third seed David Ferrer ended a six-year dry spell at the event with his 6-4, 6-1 defeat of fellow Spaniard Daniel Gimeno-Traver.

Ferrer, ranked 14th, broke five times against the number 79Gimeno-Traver after trailing early in the match on hot spring afternoon.

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