TheSportsCampus

Nikolay Davydenko took a huge leap towards making the ATP World Tour Finals in London by beating Rafael Nadal in straight sets to lift the Shanghai Masters. Winning his second tournament this month following his triumph at the Malaysian Open, Davydenko moved over 400 ranking points ahead of nearest rival Fernando Verdasco, and only a disastrous next few weeks can deny him a place in the year-end showcase.

Former world no.1 Rafael Nadal still far from his best since returning from an injury plagued second half of the tennis season struggled to find any rhythm against the Russian, who himself looked a little fatigued after his three hour marathon against Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals yesterday.

Davyden ko broke early in the first set for a 2-1 lead and consolidated the break in the following game with an easy hold. He had a couple of chances at 15-40 in the 7th game to pick up a double break which would have surely sealed the first set. Nadal saved those, and fought back to break the Davydenko serve in the following game to level the opening set at 4-4.

The Spaniard made it three games on the trot at 5-4, and had Davydenko under pressure again in the following game as he forced a set point on the Russian's serve. Davydenko saved that, and rallied back from 0-30 in his following service game to force the set into a tiebreak. However like he did yesterday against Djokovic, Davydenko raised his game just when it mattered, ripping three backhand winners including one at set point to seal the breaker 7-3.

The second set went rather easily on serve till the 5th game when Nadal created a break point on the Davydenko serve but failed to convert. Davydenko then raced to 0-40 on the Nadal serve in the following game and took his chance with both hands when Nadal hit a backhand wide.

Delighted with the break, Davydenko wasn't one to let up, and held serve confidently to close out the match 7-6 (3), 6-3.

In the men's doubles final Julien Benneteau and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga upset the 6th seeds Fyrstenberg and Matkowski 6-2, 6-4 to record an easy win.

File Photograph: Madrid Masters