Nadal crashes at first hurdle
WORLD No2 Rafael Nadal was dumped out of the ATP World Tour Finals at the earliest opportunity last night after another straight-sets defeat at London’s O2 Arena.
The Spaniard, who has struggled with injuries this season, only showed his trademark grit in the closing stages of a 6-1, 7-6 (7-4) defeat to Russia’s Nikolay Davydenko.
Victory for world No7 Davydenko means he will join Robin Soderling in the semi-finals if he beats the Swede in tomorrow’s final round of Group B matches.
Davydenko raced through a first set in which Nadal looked a shadow of the player who won six Grand Slam titles before turning 23 earlier this year. The Mallorcan recovered his fighting spirit in the second set, twice coming from a break down to force a tie-break.
But it proved to be only a stay of execution, as Davydenko shook off his nerves to clinch a memorable win.
Soderling earlier earned his place in the semi-finals with a shock straight-sets defeat of world No3 Novak Djokovic.
The world No9, who stunned Nadal in similar fashion on Monday, edged the first set before sweeping to victory 7-6 (7-5), 6-1.
Britain’s Andy Murray, meanwhile, needs to beat Spain’s Fernando Verdasco today and hope that Roger Federer beats Juan Martin del Potro in order to reach the last four.