Janko Tipsarevic faces former champion Nikolay Davydenko in the pick of Friday's ATP Kuala Lumpur quarter-final ties.
Tipsarevic looked red hot as he crushed Flavio Cipolla 6-2, 6-4 in the second round, making light of the man who had annihilated Wimbledon quarter-finalist Bernard Tomic at the start of the week. The Serb dropped just 13 points in total on serve.
He certainly looked more impressive than his antagonist today. Davydenko found himself in trouble as he trailed Lukasz Kubot by a break in the second set but recovered to win 6-3, 7-6(2).
"At 5-2 down in the second set, I was already thinking about the third set," Davydenko reflected afterwards. "I was just fighting for the points and was able to come back and win it in two sets. Sometimes it happens that way."
Davydenko leads 2-0 on the head-to-head, winning in straight sets in Moscow back in 2007 and then again in Miami a year later. However Tipsarevic is a much improved player now. Look for him to take this in two.
