Roger Federer and Nikolay Davydenko meet in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open. Roger holds a 12 – 2 advantage over Davydenko but the Russian has won their last two meetings. For this reason — and because Davydenko is on a 13 match win streak — there is a lot of buzz surrounding this match. Many think he can topple the Swiss star.
We feel differently. Beating Federer in a non-major tournament isn’t the same as beating him in a major. If you look at Federer’s recent history at the majors, he’s only lost to a few guys (Del Potro, Nadal, and Djokovic) despite the fact that he’s lost a number of matches to a number of pros at other tournaments. Simply put, wins at non-majors haven’t translated to wins at majors for almost every pro on tour (ask Andy Murray — although he may get a shot to change this in a few days).
We predict that Federer will beat Davydenko in 4 sets and advance to the semifinals of the Australian Open, where he’ll face either Novak Djokovic or Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.