Nikolay Davydenko captures title in Austria

Nikolay Davydenko made the most of his French Open tune-up, winning the title at the Hypo Group Tennis International on Saturday.

Ranked fourth in the world and top seed at this claycourt event, the Russian downed No. 2 Juan Monaco, 6-2, 2-6, 6-2, to claim his 13th career championship and second this season.

This marks the sixth career claycourt title for Davydenko, who is the fourth seed at the French Open, which begins Sunday. The 26-year-old, who earned $91,700 for Saturday’s victory, also claimed back-to-back titles here starting in 2005 and was a finalist in 2003.


In addition to running his record at this event to 23-4, Davydenko improved to 34-9 this season and trails only world No. 2 Rafael Nadal (37) in wins.

Coincidentally, Davydenko’s last title came in March at Miami where he beat Nadal in the championship match.

Monaco was the defending champion of this event and was bidding for his fourth career title. The world No. 14 has been to six finals in his career - all on clay.

This was his second final of 2008, though he was forced to retire from the championship match at Vina del Mar against Fernando Gonzalez in February due to an ankle injury.

A native of Argentina, Monaco fell to 4-17 lifetime against players ranked inside the top 10.

Article from yahoo Sports Tennis - Here
Photo credit should read DANIEL RAUNIG/AFP/Getty Images