The first Russian to win the Miami Crown

Monday, April 7, 2008

Russian fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko crushed Spanish second seed Rafael Nadal 6-4, 6-2 on Sunday in the final of the 3.77 million-dollar Miami ATP Masters Series Sony Ericsson Open hardcourt event. Davydenko won 590,000 dollars and his 12th career ATP title, his first since capturing the crown at Moscow last October. Davydenko's best Miami result in six prior appearances was reaching the fourth round two years ago.

Davydenko became the first Russian to win the Miami crown as he outmuscled two foes in a row he had never beaten. He got rid of Andy Roddick in the semi-finals despite having lost all five prior matches with the sixth-seeded American.

Davydenko broke Nadal early but the Spaniard bust back at love when the Russian meshed up a forehand to level the first set at 2-2. Nadal held but Davydenko won six of the next seven games to grab control of the match.

Nadal admit defeated another break in the fifth game of the second set when Davydenko blasted a winner past him for a 4-1 lead. Davydenko held at love for a 5-1 edge and, after Nadal held serve, closed out the match on his second championship point opportunity with a forehand winner after 82 minutes.