Davydenko out of Chennai Open and Aussie Open

Nikolay Davydenko has informed the tennis world that he is pulling out of this year's Australian Open because of a heel injury which caused him to pull out of his second round match at the Chennai Open. Davydenko stated: "It's obviously serious since I'll even miss the Australian Open," he said.

But at the Qatar Open, all top four seeds prevailed in their matches effortlessly. Rafael Nadal took care of business with a 61 62 victory, Roger Federer showed shakiness in his match against Andreas Seppi of Italy but managed to slip past with a 63 63 win; then again Andy Murray had no problem shaking off his opponent with an easy 62 64 win, and Andy Roddick had a bit of trouble with Arnaud Clement but still triumphed with a score of 63 75.

While at Brisbane, the main news of the day was Ernests Gulbis losing to Paul-Henri Mathieu 63 64, and Nishikori beating fifth seeded Tomas Berdych with a score of 76(7) 63.

Results for January 6, 2009

Brisbane International

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Singles - Second Round
[4] R Soderling (SWE) d J Benneteau (FRA) 63 63
[7] R Gasquet (FRA) d T Dent (USA) 75 64

Singles - First Round
E Gulbis (LAT) d [1] N Djokovic (SRB) 64 64
[2] J Tsonga (FRA) d A Calleri (ARG) 62 75
[5] T Berdych (CZE) d [WC] B Klein (AUS) 60 64
F Serra (FRA) d J Ferrero (ESP) 63 76(3)
M Ancic (CRO) d [Q] A Delic (USA) 76(2) 67(4) 76(6)
K Nishikori (JPN) d [Q] B Reynolds (USA) 63 62
P Mathieu (FRA) d [Q] T Gabashvili (RUS) 63 63
M Llodra (FRA) d [Q] J Sirianni (AUS) 57 76(3) 62

Doubles - First Round
[1] M Mirnyi (BLR) / A Ram (ISR) d T Berdych (CZE) / R Stepanek (CZE) 46 62 11-9
T Parrott (USA) / F Polasek (SVK) d [2] M Melo (BRA) / A Sa (BRA) 36 62 10-1
[4] M Damm (CZE) / R Lindstedt (SWE) d L Arnold Ker (ARG) / B Soares (BRA) 75 75
J Murray (GBR) / D Vemic (SRB) d J Knowle (AUT) / J Melzer (AUT) 67(14) 62 10-4
[WC] C Ball (AUS) / C Guccione (AUS) d M Fish (USA) / S Querrey (USA) 75 75
F Verdasco (ESP) / M Zverev (GER) d [WC] B Klein (AUS) / B Tomic (AUS) 76(4) 76(5)

Qatar Open

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Singles - First Round
[1] R Nadal (ESP) d F Santoro (FRA) 60 61
[2] R Federer (SUI) d P Starace (ITA) 62 62
[3] A Murray (GBR) d A Montanes (ESP) 62 64
M Youzhny (RUS) d [6] I Andreev (RUS) 46 63 64
[8] P Kohlschreiber (GER) d [Q] M Chiudinelli (SUI) 64 63
[Q] A Peya (AUT) d [7] D Tursunov (RUS) 26 63 64 
[WC] A Clement (FRA) d D Junqueira (ARG) 61 62 
K Vliegen (BEL) d O Hernandez (ESP) 61 67(4) 76(5)
[Q] M Przysiezny (POL) d [Q] K Beck (SVK) 46 64 75

Doubles - First Round
[1] D Nestor (CAN) / N Zimonjic (SRB) d A Clement (FRA) / N Devilder (FRA) 63 61 
P Petzschner (GER) / A Peya (AUT) d [3] M Fyrstenberg (POL) / M Matkowski (POL) 61 76(5)
J Cerretani (USA) / V Hanescu (ROU) d A Seppi (ITA) / V Troicki (SRB) 64 64 

Chennai Open

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Singles - First Round
[1] N Davydenko (RUS) d D Koellerer (AUT) 62 63
[Q] F Cipolla (ITA) d [2] S Wawrinka (SUI) 64 61
[4] I Karlovic (CRO) d [Q] R Ram (USA) 64 63
[6] C Moya (ESP) d [Q] D Udomchoke (THA) 63 76(4) 
[7] J Tipsarevic (SRB) d P Andujar (ESP) 63 62
A Beck (GER) d R Karanusic (CRO) 61 60
D Istomin (UZB) d [Q] R Bopanna (IND) 64 76(3)
I Minar (CZE) d W Odesnik (USA) 63 60
[WC] S Devvarman (IND) d K Kim (USA) 63 63

Doubles - First Round
[3] R Wassen (NED) / L Zovko (CRO) d A Martin (ESP) / D Sela (ISR) 63 61 
M Granollers (ESP) / S Ventura (ESP) d D Gimeno-Traver (ESP) / R Ramirez Hidalgo (ESP) 64 62

Djokovic knocked out; while top seeds in Qatar triumph

Novak Djokovic has been beaten by Ernests Gulbis at the Brisbane International with a score of 64 64. Djokovic will now play at the Sydney International next week and states:  "I am not panicking, the Australian Open is my highest goal for this part of the year."

While at the Qatar Open the top three seeds advance to the next round. Rafael Nadal won his match against Fabrice Santoro of France with a perfect score of 60 61, Roger Federer won to Potito Starace of Italy with an impressive score of 62 62, and Andy Murray won to Albert Montanes with a near perfect score of 62 64. And after the Nadal vs Santoro match, Nadal received the 2008 ATP World Tour Champion trophy since he wasn't at the Shanghai Masters last year to receive it there.

Also at the Chennai Open, top seed Nikolay Davydenko impressed spectators with a straight set 62 63 win over Austrian Daniel Koellerer.

Results for January 5, 2009

Brisbane International

Monday, January 5, 2009

Singles - First Round
[3] F Verdasco (ESP) d [WC] B Tomic (AUS) 64 62
J Melzer (AUT) d [6] M Fish (USA) 64 46 76(4)
[8] R Stepanek (CZE) d I Kunitsyn (RUS) 62 62
J Nieminen (FIN) d [WC] M Baghdatis (CYP) 57 61 64

Doubles - First Round
[3] S Aspelin (SWE) / P Vizner (CZE) d J Benneteau (FRA) / M Llodra (FRA) 64 75
M Gicquel (FRA) / J Tsonga (FRA) d M Ancic (CRO) / P Mathieu (FRA) 75 46 10-4

Qatar Open

Monday, January 5, 2009

Singles - First Round
[4] A Roddick (USA) d I Navarro (ESP) 61 63
[5] [WC] G Monfils (FRA) d J Hernych (CZE) 62 62
N Devilder (FRA) d [WC] A Hajji (QAT) 60 63 
V Hanescu (ROU) d V Troicki (SRB) 64 62 
S Stakhovsky (UKR) d C Rochus (BEL) 26 63 76(3)
A Seppi (ITA) d D Gremelmayr (GER) 64 62 
P Petzschner (GER) d J Chardy (FRA) 76(2) 63

Doubles - First Round
[2] J Coetzee (RSA) / W Moodie (RSA) d I Andreev (RUS) / J Levinsky (CZE) 64 26 10-1
[4] C Kas (GER) / P Kohlschreiber (GER) d R Hutchins (GBR) / A Murray (GBR) 75 64 
[WC] M Lopez (ESP) / R Nadal (ESP) d O Hernandez (ESP) / A Montanes (ESP) 63 63
F Santoro (FRA) / M Youzhny (RUS) d [WC] A Hajji (QAT) / L Ouahab (ALG) 60 62
L Kubot (POL) / D Tursunov (RUS) d M Mertinak (SVK) / P Starace (ITA) 62 63

Chennai Open

Monday, January 5, 2009

Singles - First Round
[3] M Cilic (CRO) d A Martin (ESP) 64 64
[5] R Schuettler (GER) d [WC] P Amritraj (IND) 62 46 61
[8] M Granollers (ESP) d H Lee (KOR) 64 75
B Phau (GER) d S Ventura (ESP) 62 75
S Greul (GER) d D Gimeno-Traver (ESP) 63 64
[WC] L Dlouhy (CZE) d G Soeda (JPN) 36 62 64
D Sela (ISR) d R Ramirez Hidalgo (ESP) 46 76(3) 61

Doubles - First Round
[4] S Lipsky (USA) / D Martin (USA) d R Bopanna (IND) / F Cipolla (ITA) 76(9) 63
E Butorac (USA) / R Ram (USA) d [WC] Y Bhambri (IND) / H Mankad (IND) 61 62
O Marach (AUT) / J Tipsarevic (SRB) d P Andujar (ESP) / C Moya (ESP) 36 63 10-4

Roddick and Monfils fuel up in Qatar

Andy Roddick enjoyed an easy win over Ivan Navarro of Spain with a score of 61 63, and Gael Monfils beat Czech Jan Hernych 62 62 at the Qatar Open in Doha.

While at the Chennai Open, third seed Marin Cilic skipped to the next round with a 64 64 win and fifth seeded Rainer Schuettler had to go all the way to three sets for his 62 46 61 victory over one of the local wildcards.

The Brisbane International had both wins and upsets fill their day. The wins had third seeded Fernando Verdasco take victory with a score of 64 62, and eighth seeded Radek Stepanek a sweet win of 62 62. Mardy Fish filled the crowed with disappointment when he lost to Austrian Jurgen Melzer in a close three set encounter where the score was 64 46 76(4), and wildcard and former Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis tasted defeat to Jarkko Nieminen with the score being 57 61 64.