Fernando Verdasco looks to score a win over Nikolay Davydenko for the first time since 2006.
It's been a lousy season for Verdasco, no doubt about that. The Spaniard has shown throughout his career that although he has the talent to reach the very top, the consistency and mental application are often lacking.
However over the last couple of weeks he's shown signs he could be ready to do something big in the next few weeks. He made a decent transition from clay to hard in just a couple of days, taking down Australian qualifier Marinko Matosevic 6-4, 6-4.
Davydenko's never really recovered from the untimely wrist injury which scuppered him early last year, just when he looked like a genuine contender for the major titles. He's had flashes of that past brilliance this season but nothing more and yesterday he finally snapped a losing streak which had stretched back to the French Open, also beating an Aussie qualifier in straight sets.
There have been plenty of Davydenko-Verdasco battles in the past and the Russian has unarguably come out trumps, winning seven of them to Verdasco's one.
Verdasco's game just really does not match up well against Davydenko's wall-like consistency but will current form swing it his way ?
