Florent Serra v Nikolay Davydenko
Tennis: United Arab Emirates, ATP Dubai, Singles
Tuesday, 23rd February 2010 - Start 11:30 GMT

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Preview

Florent Serra has always been one of these players that could have success in the Challengers, but the main ATP level events are full of too many players that have the edge over him. Serra does not have any particular strengths and this makes it hard for him to beat players in the top 40.

The Frenchman has made a live start to the season with a 3rd round spot in the Australian Open, although he has only been as far as the 2nd round in any other tournament he has contested. He comes into this tournament after losing 3 of his last 4 matches.

Serra is currently ranked as the World Number 59 but will really need to improve on his hard court credentials in his match up with Davydenko. He is 21-24 on the hard courts since 2008, having a couple of solid tournaments coupled in with early exits.

He only made 1 appearance here in Dubai previously, and lost in the 2nd round back in 2007.

Nikolay Davydenko started the season on fire with a win in Doha and then pushing Roger Federer all the way in their Quarter Final meeting in Australia. He did continue his good form in Rotterdam in reaching the Semi Final, but has had a couple of niggling injuries that meant missing Marseille last week.

He is now the World Number 6 as he looks to put himself in a position to go back to London at the end of season to defend his Masters title he won there. Davydenko has the perfect game to make it hard to beat him- he has improved his serve ten-fold while also being effective off both wings with his groundstrokes. Add to the mix that he is one of the best returners in the game and it is easy to see why he was such a popular pick to win the Grand Slam in Australia.

Davydenko is at home on clay courts and hard courts. He has an amazing 47-14 record on hard courts since 2008 and that includes wins over each of the top 4 in the World.

The Russian has played at this tournament on 5 previous occasions, but it was during his last visit that he achieved his best result of a Semi Final place back in 2008.

Head to Head

The 2 players have met before and Nikolay Davydenko leads the head to head 3-1 after losing their first meeting. 3 of the meetings took place on clay courts (2-1 Davydenko) and their other meeting was on an indoor hard court.

Their last meeting took place on the clay courts of Madrid last season and Davydenko won in straight sets.

Davydenko has won 6 straight sets against Serra.

Prediction

Florent Serra is a solid performer, but as I mentioned above, not one that has too many weapons to hurt the elite in this game and unfortunately he plays one of those here. His game matches up very well against the consistency of Davydenko and will lead to his downfall here.

Nikolay Davydenko has been playing so well in recent weeks, and really putting some players to the sword. He has managed to get through the early rounds of these tournaments without too many issues and seems to have a nice draw through to the Semi Finals. His consistency here should be far too much for Serra.

I believe that Nikolay Davydenko will come through this match without too many issues. I am recommending a Davydenko win on the handicap here which is set at - 5 games.

The Pick :

Nikolay Davydenko win 6-3, 6-2

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

Take Nikolay Davydenko WIN

HANDICAP BETTING :

Nikolay Davydenko -5 games