But very quietly he has already added three new trophies to his mantle, and this week in Beijing he's attempting to win back-to-back titles for the second time this year. After winning in Hamburg and Umag back in July, he beat three top-fifteen players in a row last week in Kuala Lumpur. So far in China he's squeaked past Igor Kunitsyn after dropping a tight second set and trounced Philipp Kohlschreiber in straights in the second round, taking less than an hour to advance.
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A win in Beijing would make 2009 Davydenko's most prolific year since 2006, when he also achieved a career-high ranking at #3, but there's still a lot of work to be done. The China Open marks Rafael Nadal's return to competition after a nagging stomach strain made New York a taxing effort and second-seeded Novak Djokovic has also been playing in top form.
More immediately, though, he'll face eighth seed Marin Cilic, a player he hold a 2-0 record over. Then again, they haven't met in two years, when the twenty-one year old Croat was ranked seventy-first in the world -- now he's fifteen -- and he's notched a big win already this year against Andy Murray. Though Cilic has remained quiet for most of the year, he does have two smallish titles under his belt -- Chennai and Zagreb. He's not exactly a foe to take lightly.
Incidentally, the match I'm most looking forward to is tomorrow's second round face-off between James Blake and Nadal. We all know the tough time Blake's been having this year, with two opening round losses in back-to-back Majors, but he is one of the few players with a winning 3-2 record over Rafa. If the reigning #2 is even a bit off his game, this could be an opportunity for Blake to get back on track.
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The draw might be smaller than other tournaments, but there are certainly enough big names in the mix for some to make a splash at the China Open. And for those that have been quietly making their way through the tournaments this year, there could be a nice payoff at the end.
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