Events / Ben Caudell / 15 November 2008 /

Nikolai Davydenko was outstanding in his semi-final against Andy Murray and fully deserves to go into the final day showdown as the favourite on Betfair, writes Ben Caudell.

Few would have predicted a Novak Djokovic v Nikolay Davydenko final at the start of the tournament and the two players who came first and second in the Gold Group will battle it out again to see who will be crowned the Shanghai Masters Cup champion for the first time.

Nikolay Davydenko has been playing some of his best tennis of the year, since his victory in the Miami Masters back in March. He lost to Djokovic, his only loss in the Master Series Cup in three sets earlier this week. He deserved better but his serve let him down on the key points, allowing the Serb to snatch the win from the better performing player. Davydenko was outstanding in his semi-final match against Andy Murray and goes into the final deservedly as favourite to win on Betfair.

Davydenko will be the fitter of the two having knocked out Murray in straight sets. Novak Djokovic will be more tired and will want to start well especially since the final is the best-of-5 sets. The fatigue factor doomed Murray and I suspect it will catch Djokovic, playing back-to-back matches for the first time here. Look for Djokovic to make the points as short as he can as the match progresses, The Russian on the other hand will try to tire the Serb out and won't mind this going to five sets.

Selection: Back Nikolay Davydenko to win match at [1.85]

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