By Martyn Herman
PARIS, June 3 - If Russia's Nikolay Davydenko is
going to win his first grand slam title next Sunday at Roland
Garros his route to glory could not be much tougher.
After battling to a gruelling victory over Argentina's David
Nalbandian to reach the quarter-finals, the fourth seed is
facing another relentless south American in Guillermo Canas and
then would probably have to beat Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
"If I win all those matches I would probably quit tennis,"
Davydenko, who turned 26 on Saturday, told reporters on Sunday
after an entralling 6-3 7-6 3-6 7-6 victory on Centre Court.
"Every match is like amazing now. It's pretty tough. The
first two rounds were but now it's starting.
"From Nalbandian, then Canas and like Federer. It's more
running for sure. Nadal, I played him in Rome only three sets
and it took three hours and 40 minutes.
"If I play five I need to start at 11 in the morning and
finish at nine in the evening!"
Standing just 1.78 metres and weighing 70 kgs, Davydenko
looks like he could be overpowered, but his rapier groundstrokes
and quick feet allow him to mix it with the sluggers.
His record speaks for itself. He was a semi-finalist here in
2005 when he lost to the later-banned Mariano Puerta and he has
reached the quarter-finals in five of his last six appearances
at grand slam tournaments.
He looked to be in danger as the grizzled Nalbandian, who
defeated him here at the last eight stage last year, raised his
game to come back from losing the first two sets and then was
serving at 5-4 in the fourth with Davydenko tiring.
The Russian conjured two staggering passes to break serve,
however, then held off three break points at 5-5. An inspired
tiebreak sealed victory, but his legs will ache in the morning
after covering every inch red dust to subdue Nalbandian.
"The tiebreak was my last chance to win the match, because
if I lose the tiebreak, my power was going," he said.
"Nalbandian is tougher and tougher in a fifth set."
Asked about the prospect of 15 more sets, Davydenko said: "I
need to win in three sets every match! Look at me, I'm already
70 kilos. How many kilos will I lose after five-set matches? I
would be down to 40 by then."