Russian fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko defeated Spanish second seed Rafael Nadal 6-4, 6-2 on Sunday in the final of the US$3.77 million Miami ATP Masters Series Sony Ericsson Open hardcourt event.
Davydenko won US$590,000 and his 12th career ATP title, his first since capturing the crown at Moscow last October and what he dubbed the biggest title of his career.
Davydenko’s best previous Miami result was reaching the fourth round two years ago.
“For me it’s surprising standing here [as the winner]. I never play good in Miami,” Davydenko said. “For me to beat Nadal in the final, first time in my career. I think it’s crazy.”
Reigning French Open champion Nadal, ranked second in the world for a record 140 weeks in a row since July of 2005, had won both prior meetings with Davydenko but struggled from the start on Sunday.
Davydenko became the first Russian to win the Miami crown by dispatching two foes in a row he had never beaten. He ousted Andy Roddick in the semi-finals despite having lost all five prior matches with the sixth-seeded American.
“Beating those two guys in two sets was amazing to me,” Davydenko said.
“Maybe something in my tennis will change from Miami in the future. Maybe I feel more confident because I beat very good guys here and now in the future maybe something different, maybe much faster, maybe much better,” he said.
Davydenko broke Nadal early but the Spaniard broke back at love when the Russian netted a forehand to level the first set at 2-2. Nadal held but Davydenko won six of the next seven games to seize command of the match.
“In the beginning he wasn’t playing very good. But I didn’t play well either,” Nadal said. “He came back and at 3-all, I had a break point. Important point. I didn’t win this point. I made a mistake with the forehand. After this point he played much better.
Nadal was broken in the seventh game by Davydenko, who held twice more to claim the opening set, then broke the Spaniard again to begin the second set when Nadal sent a forehand wide.
Nadal surrendered another break in the fifth game of the second set when Davydenko blasted a winner past him for a 4-1 lead. Davydenko held at love for a 5-1 edge and, after Nadal held serve, closed out the match on his second championship point opportunity with a forehand winner after 82 minutes.
Davydenko, who was down a match point earlier in the tournament, stunned even himself by using the same racquet throughout the week.
“I want to keep forever this racquet,” he said.
Nadal had been an ATP-best 21-5 in reaching the final before Davydenko denied him a 24th career title and what would have been his first ATP crown since Stuttgart last July.
“He played at a very good level. I didn’t play a good match. That’s it,” Nadal said. “When you don’t play at 100 percent against top players, it’s tough to win. I didn’t feel my rhythm on the court so I played a bad game today.”
Nadal, 21, was foiled in his bid to be the first Spaniard to take the Miami title, having also finished runner-up in 2005 when he lost to world No. 1 Roger Federer, who was ousted by Roddick in a quarter-final this week.
Davydenko, 26, spent much of last year dealing with an ATP match-fixing probe that remains unresolved.
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