Estoril Open 2003 News and Events

Nikolay Davydenko
© João Lagos Sports

Nikolay Davydenko won the all-Russian clash at the Estoril Open, defeating sixth seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov for the first time in his career to reach the semifinals at eh Estadio Nacional.

Davydenko came through 6-2, 6-4 inflicting Kafelnikov with only his fifth career loss to a fellow countryman.

"Kafelnikov didn't play so well today," said Davydenko. "I know he can play much better. I wanted to fight for every ball and I wanted to beat him. Against Russians, he always plays unbelievably well, but today he wasn't concentrating so well and maybe he had a problem with something.

"I practice with him every time at tournaments, and I always win whenever we play practice sets. So I was thinking that if I can do it in practice, why not in the match? Especially on a clay court."

Patience

Kafelnikov, who had lost just four games in his opening two rounds, was impressed with Davydenko's play. "My opponent hit too many winners, I wasn't making any mistakes," said Kafelnikov. "He was better, he played more consistently, hit with more power and a little bit more solid than I did today. It's just a question of time and a lot of hard work and it will come. Davydenko has a lot of patience when he's playing. I tried to come up with something unusual and it didn't work."

Despite the loss, Kafelnikov was optimistic about the upcoming clay season. "It's a long time since I have played three matches in a tournament and I've won two matches here," he added. "It's not my favorite surface so it's a step in the right direction. I will play every week from now until Roland Garros, so I hope to get many more matches in before then."

Davydenko, a winner in Adelaide earlier this year on hard courts, will now meet Max Mirnyi for a place in Sunday's final. Mirnyi defeated Spain's Feliciano Lopez 7-6(0), 6-4.

"The tie-break reminded me of my match here last year against Moya, when I missed a ball in the tie-break, lost the set and the match," said Minryi. "It was similar today, so in the first set tie-break I wanted to make sure I was concentrating on every ball."

Competitive

Looking ahead to the semifinal against Davydenko, he added: "Davydenko is not any better on clay than my two previous opponents in Alberto Martin or Feliciano Lopez, so more or less, it will be the same type of tennis tomorrow.

"Nikolay is somebody that I know. He comes from the same regions and he has much more to play for. We are always competitive but much more so against one of your countrymen. I will test him tomorrow and hope to bring out the best in my game."

Earlier in the day, fifth seed Tommy Robredo also reached the semifinals with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over fellow Spaniard Galo Blanco.

"It feels very good to be in the semifinals of my first clay court tournament of the year, especially playing like I did in the match today," said Robredo. "I'm playing with a lot of confidence, and it was great to get a scoreline like that, but it wasn't as easy as it suggests."

Robredo, playing in his first clay court tournament of the year, now meets Argentina's Agustin Calleri, a recent winner in Acapulco, who defeated Chile's Fernando Gonzalez, the No. 4 seed, 7-5, 6-1.

"I knew it was going to be a tough match," said Calleri. "He hits the ball really hard. After the first set, I felt that his level had gone down a little bit and I was able to take full advantage."