Estoril Open News and Events

Nikolay Davydenko

© JLS

World No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko, who captured the 2003 Estoril Open title and finished runner-up two years ago, battled into the quarterfinals with a 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 victory over Czech Ivo Minar in one hour and 53 minutes.

Having beaten Rafael Nadal at the Sony Ericsson Open – an ATP Masters Series event in Miami, Florida – and helped Russia clinch its place in the Davis Cup World Group semifinals, Davydenko has arrived in Estoril full of confidence.

Minar struck three aces and broke the Davydenko serve twice in the first set, but any hopes of a repeating his 2005 Sydney victory over the second seed quickly evaporated in the early stages of the second set.

Davydenko won 41 of 57 points on first serve and broke five times from seven opportunities. He is now nine matches unbeaten with a 22-5 record on the season.

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The 26-year-old advances to a clash with No. 7 seed Marc Gicquel, who hit seven aces to beat French compatriot Thierry Ascione 7-6(2), 6-3 in one hour and 38 minutes.

Davydenko holds a 2-0 career lead over Gicquel, having beaten the 31-year-old at Rotterdam last year and the Australian Open in January.

Earlier in the day, Florent Serra won back-to-back matches on the ATP circuit for the first time since he reached the Chennai quarterfinals in January.

The 27-year-old overcame early spirited resistance from Portuguese wild card Rui Machado to record a 7-6(5), 6-1 win in one hour and 49 minutes.

Serra now has an opportunity to reach his first ATP semifinal since Bucharest in September 2006.

He will meet Italian Flavio Cipolla in the last eight, after fifth-seeded Frenchman Gilles Simon retired with a back injury in the second set. First-time ATP quarterfinalist Cipolla was leading 6-2, 5-3 after 74 minutes.