Tennis Atlantic

Eight is Great: Gasquet Wins in Doha

2 seed Richard Gasquet captured his 8^th career ATP title with a 3-6 7-6 6-3 win over veteran Nikolay Davydenko in a week of nail-biting matches for the Frenchman.

In addition to coming back from a set down to defeat Davydenko, he also had to come back from a set down in the 2^nd round against Grega Zemlja after beating Jan Hernych in the 1^st round. He then dispatched Lukas Lacko with ease in the quarters before meeting surprise semi finalist Daniel Brands of Germany, a qualifier, who defeated Gael Monfils in the quarters along with 5 seed Jeremy Chardy in the 1^st round, 7-5 7-5.  Even though it wasn’t always easy, he got the job done in Doha.

For “Kolya” Davydenko, it was a week of turning back the clock and rekindling the form he had in previous years, but had not shown in a while.  He beat fellow veteran Victor Hanescu in the first round, then 4 seed and countryman Mikhail Youzhny, handed a double breadstick to surprise quarter finalist Simone Bolelli and shockingly upset top seed David Ferrer 6-2 6-3. Davydenko faced just 5 break points all week up until the final and had won all his matches in straights, but Gasquet proved to be too much and he fell just short.

In the doubles, Germans Christopher Kas and Phillip Kohlschreiber beat Julian Knowle and Filip Polasek.

—S. Kirby