Lopez Stages Remarkable Comeback for Final Berth at Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships

Dubai, UAE, March 7th, 2008: Feliciano Lopez earned a place in the final of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships on Friday with a nail-biting defeat of fifth seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko.

The unseeded Spaniard, who also reached the final in 2004 before losing to Roger Federer, took two hours 24-minutes to claim his 6-4 4-6 7-5 victory, recovering from 5-2 down in the final set.

It seemed at first as if Davydenko would steamroller his way to the final, giving up just one point in the first three games. But Lopez eventually began to compete on equal terms.

He recovered the break in the fifth game, only to have Davydenko break again when he netted a backhand volley from Davydenko’s strong return.

Undeterred, Lopez broke back once more in the next game, and a netted backhand gave him another break and left him serving for the first set.

Both players faced break points in the second set, Davydenko in the opening game and Lopez when down 4-3, and it was eventually the Russian who made the breakthrough, earning the only break of the set at 5-4.

In a dramatic third set, Davydenko broke to lead 3-1 and moved on to lead 5-2, before Lopez staged his remarkable fight back and swept the last five games.

“I think I was lucky,” said Lopez, who despite his world ranking of 41 earned his third victory over a top 10 opponent this week. “I was down 5-3 and he made a few mistakes in that game when I broke him. I took my chances and won this match. It was really good for me, because to win a match from 5-2 in the third is tough. I made it, but I think I was a little bit lucky.”

Davydenko acknowledged that the mistakes he made when serving at 5-3 were his undoing.

“It should be my match, but he won,” said Davydenko, who nevertheless improved on his previous best performance in Dubai by reaching the semi-finals. “At 5-3 I think I win the match. It was bad luck. A few points on my serve I did a mistake and he played pretty well, tried to make no mistakes and pushed the ball back.”