Nikolay Davydenko se proclamó campeón del torneo de Maestros al derrotar a Juan Martín del Potro en dos sets, con parciales de 6-3 y 6-4, con lo que cosechó su quinto título de la temporada, en un año en el que ganó las cinco finales que disputó: Masters de Londres, Masters 1000 de Shangai, Malasia, Croacia y Hamburgo.
Dos quiebres, uno en el primer set y uno en el segundo, fueron la diferencia a favor de Davydenko, quien finalmente obtuvo su ‘maestría' en el tenis profesional, ya que, a sus 28 años, conquistó su primer trofeo del ATP Wourld Tour Final. Su siguiente reto será ganar su primer Grand Slam.
Davydenko llegó a la final después de perder en su debut ante Novak Djokovic, aunque luego se repuso y derrotó a Rafael Nadal y Robin Soderling, todavía en fase de grupos. En semifinales venció a Roger Federer en tres sets.
Por su parte, el camino de Del Potro inició también con una derrota ante el local, Andy Murray, para después vencer a Verdasco y Federer. En la antesala de la final, batió en tres sets a Robin Soderling.
En el primer set, Davydenko logró un quiebre definitivo en el cuarto ‘game', lo que puso el marcador 3-1 a su favor, con lo que sólo necesitó conservar su saque para sellar el 6-3 final. Las claves para ganar esta manga estuvieron en el 70 por ciento de efectividad que logró con su primer servicio y en que cometió menos errores no forzados que Del Potro (7-10).
El segundo set terminó con efectividad menor al 70 por ciento para ambos en el primer servicio, así como ocho errores no forzados para cada uno. La clave estuvo en el quiebre, pues, al final esa fue la diferencia: Davydenko rompió el servicio de su rival en dos ocasiones durante el partido, en las cinco oportunidades que tuvo, mientras que Del Potro no consiguió ninguno a pesar de las seis opciones de las que dispuso.
De esta forma, Davydenko conquistó el último torneo del año de la ATP, con lo que se pone punto final a la temporada tenística del circuito profesional. Ahora sólo resta la final de la Copa Davis entre España y República Checa, con la que finalizará el tenis en este año.
ATP World Tour No. 7 Nikolay Davydenko capped a dream week Sunday as he defeated Juan Martin del Potro 6-3, 6-4 to capture the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals trophy at The O2 in south-east London.
Davydenko, who finished runner-up to Novak Djokovic at the season finale in Shanghai last year, is the first Russian to win the year-end title in tournament history (since 1970). His efforts this week see him rewarded with $1,510,000 in prize money; he will also overtake Andy Roddick at No. 6 in the South African Airways 2009 ATP Rankings on Monday.
“I was [looking at the trophy], until 2008, [there are] so many names there, like Djokovic, Federer, everyone, [Pete] Sampras,” said Davydenko, who was contesting his fifth straight year-end championship. “In 2009, [it says] Davydenko forever on this trophy. I think it's amazing. [In the] history of the [Finals], for my name to be there is something amazing for me.”
En route to winning the biggest tournament of his career, Davydenko defeated the winners of all four Grand Slam titles in 2009 – beating Australian Open champion Rafael Nadal in the round-robin stage, overturning a 0-12 record against Roland Garros and Wimbledon champion Roger Federer in the semi-finals and defeating US Open champion del Potro for the title.
“It's really interesting next year for me because winning the last tournament of the year, it's something amazing. I know for five years [the tournament will] be in London now. I know it was a good stadium, was really good. Everything was perfect. For sure we enjoy next year here in London. I hope the organisation [will] be the same or even better.”
“This tournament has a great champion, like Nikolay,” said del Potro, a winner of three tour-level titles this season. “He worked hard to beat every player here this week. So maybe I have to improve a little bit the little things. But he played much better than me, and that's it. He played unbelievable tennis. He beat me in a good way.”
“I was surprised it was 6-3, 6-4, [only] one hour and 24 minutes,” commented Davydenko. “Before I was playing three set matches, pretty tough, mostly two hours. [In the] final, I don't know, maybe I had good concentration. I was surprising. I was coming in from the first point with hundred per cent concentration. It was, I think, important for this match today.”“He's very strong,” complimented del Potro. “I never beat him on hard court or indoors. He's very fast. He plays like PlayStation. He runs down everything. It is very difficult to hit winners [against him]. But I think he is a great champion. Nobody knows how we can beat him.”
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