Last year, at this time, Nikolay Davydenko was coming off a great end of 2009 and looking to continue his winning ways in 2010.  He had been on a hot streak, winning Kuala Lumpur, winning in Shanghai over Djokovic and Nadal, and winning the year-end championship beating Nadal, Federer, and del Potro, the three Slam winners that year.  Davydenko then beat Federer in the semifinals and beat Nadal in the finals, what I consider the best match of 2010.

2011 found Nadal and Davydenko in different circumstances.  In Indian Wells, Davydenko found out he had a broken left wrist and again left the tour for a few months to recover.  Although he returned shortly before Wimbledon, he played indifferent tennis the rest of the year and fell out of the top 10, because of all the points he had to defend at the end of 2009.

2010 did have one positive benefit for Davydenko.  He got a clothing and racquet contract with Dunlop.  Although a frequent member of the top ten, Davydenko has never reached the finals of a Slam and with his balding top, he lacks the sexy pirate look of Andre Agassi and his outsized personality.  Davydenko is, alas, one of the least well-compensated pro players in the top ten (at the time).  Davydenko credited his Prince racquet for his resurgence, and it still seems he’s not ready to be weaned off his old racquet.  Prince, with its quite noticeable oversized grommet holes, is a hard racquet to disguise.  Although painted to look like one of the Dunlop racquets, Davydenko is still clearly uncomfortable with the new offerings and it’s unlikely Dunlop would be so bold as to imitate the Prince design faithfully.

Rafael Nadal had, earlier in the week, complained about his health, having some kind of fever or flu.  Of course, an 80% Nadal can still beat pretty much everyone outside the top ten, unless that person happens to be Nikolay Davydenko.  Although Nadal worked his way past Ernests Gulbis and Lukas Lacko in the last two rounds, a more in-form Davydenko and an out-of-sorts Nadal was a bad matchup as Davydenko steamrolled to a 6-3, 6-2 win.

He will face off against Roger Federer who had his hands full trying to beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.  I’m sure there are those who wish Monfils would adopt the more aggressive tone that Tsonga has.  Tsonga used a powerful forehand to keep up with Roger Federer, but there was always a disparity between the games with Roger easily holding serve and Tsonga having to work hard to hold his own serve.

Still, Tsonga pushed Federer to a second set tiebreak where a few errors let Federer have a comfortable lead and a straight set win.

This means Federer will face Davydenko in the finals.  Although they have met many times, Davydenko says they have never met in the finals, so it should be an interesting experience for him.

In Brisbane, Robin Soderling made short work of local Australian, Matthew Ebden.  Although Ebden is quick and has powerful groundstrokes, Soderling did everything, including serving, just a bit better than Ebden.  This was a straight-forward 6-3, 6-2 win.  He next faces Stepanek who has had some success including their last encounter which, coincidentally, was at Brisbane in 2009, which Stepanek won in 3 sets.  That was the year Soderling beat Nadal in the French.

Kevin Anderson will face Andy Roddick in the other semis at Brisbane.

In Chennai, Tipsarevic beat Nishikori 6-4, 6-4 while Malisse had an easy win over Phau, 6-0, 6-2.  The two will meet each other in the semifinals.  Berdych, the top seed, beat Kavcic 3 and 3 and is awaiting the winner of Wawrinka and Haase.  Haase has won the first set, 6-3.

In the final day of round robin, US beat Britain 2-1.  Murray won easily over Isner, while Mattek-Sands won easily over Robson.  Britain declined to play the mixed doubles.  France also beat Italy in a meaningless match-up.  Serbia and the US will play in the finals of the Hopman Cup.