DAVYDENKO LOSES OUT

Kafelnikov’s countryman Nikolay Davydenko has been defeated by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France in the second round of the Monte Carlo Masters. Tsonga won the match in the straight sets by 7-6(3), 6-2.

Tsonga had got a bye in the opening round, so, this was technically the start of the competition for him. He showed no rustiness at all in his first game and got better of his Russian opponent quite comfortably.

This was the 5th match between these two players and Tsonga defeated Davydenko for the third time.

In the post match interview, Tsonga said, “It was nice to defeat an experienced player like Nikolay in straight sets. But, I think there is room for improvement in my game. I should have played better in the opening set.”

In the first set, Tsonga got a breakthrough in the very first game. He enhanced that lead by holding his serve in the second game.

Davydenko was again in danger of dropping his serve in the third game, but, he showed tremendous class and didn’t let Tsonga take advantage of any of the three breakpoints. He held his serve for the first time in the match and decreased the lead to 2-1.

In the 4th game, Tsonga dropped his serve and the scores got levelled. The next 8 games went with the serve and the scores got tied which took the set into the tie breaker.

In the tie breaker, Davydenko couldn’t match Tsonga’s power and lost it to get trailed by a set.

In the second set, Tsonga broke Davydenko’s serve in the 6th game and this time, he didn’t let his opponent break back. He capitalized on that lead and held his remaining serve to win the second set and the match as well.