American underdog Brian Baker makes a surprise title-round berth at the Open de Nice Cote D’Azur

American underdog Brian Baker makes a surprise title-round berth at the Open de Nice Cote D’Azur 
American qualifier, Brian Baker, stunned the former world number three, Nikolay Davydenko, in a three-set thriller at the Open de Nice Cote D’Azur 2012 on Friday. He summed up a 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-2 victory against the Russian veteran to secure a spot in the final
showdown at this ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250 series event held in Nice, France.
Baker stayed on track to bid for his maiden ATP career title this year after triumphing over the Ukrainian-born Davydenko in their first encounter. The American required two hours and 31 minutes to not only charge into the title-round at this red clay court
event but also take lead in the FedEx ATP Head 2 Head series by 1-0 against Davydenko.
"I never envisioned this. It is special.," the delighted American commented. "He was playing really well the first seven games. Then I played well to get it to the tie-break. I don’t feel I played great at the end of the breaker. I knew we were able to break
a lot, so I felt I was never out of the match even though I was down a break in the second. I played some good tennis to take the second set. I felt I had the momentum going into the third. I returned really well the last two service games he had to get up
two breaks."
Currently ranked 53rd in the South African Airways ATP World Tour rankings, Davydenko made a strong start at the Nice Lawn Tennis Club and after breaking his rival’s serve twice, he jumped to a 5-2 lead. Despite squandering a chance to serve out the set, the
Russian dragged it to a tie-breaker and clinched the opener with a 7-6(5) score line.
Baker carried his losing ways in the follow-up set and after gifting away his serve in the third game, he went 1-3 down. However, he not only recovered in the very next game but after exchanging a serve break, the American got the breakthrough in the ninth
game. He then smoothly held his serve and sealed the equaliser by winning six games to four.
216th ranked Baker kept momentum rolling into the final set and earned the critical break in the opening game to take the initial lead. Apart from losing his edge in the fourth game, the American unleashed his skills and wiped out the last four games successively.
Next challenge for Baker is the third seed, Nicolas Almagro from Spain.

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Posted by Awais Ahmed on May 25 2012. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry