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Davydenko stuns Nadal to take Shanghai title

Sunday, October 18, 2009 SHANGHAI: Russian Nikolay Davydenko stunned top seed Rafael Nadal 7-6 (7/3), 6-3 Sunday to win the Shanghai Masters.World-ranked two Nadal, on his way back from injury, has now lost his last two finals, the previous one in Madrid five months ago to Roger Federer.After winning the Shanghai Masters title, Davydenko enhanced his chances of qualifying for the ATP World Tour Finals in London. Roger Federer, Nadal, Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic and Juan Martin del Potro are the only players assured of their place at the showpiece finale to the season at the O2 Arena next month. Davydenko stays in the race for one of the last three places in the eight-man ATP World Tour Finals in London next month.The Russian has now won two Asian titles in the past three weeks after a trophy in Kuala Lumpur last month.The Russian's early break in the first set was countered by the Spaniard but Davydenko produced three stunning backhand winners to take the tie-break. The number six seed then broke the top-seeded Spaniard in the sixth game of the second set and served out the win. Davydenko is now ranked seventh for November's eight-man event in London. But Davydenko, who also won the Malaysian Open at the beginning of October has put himself in a great position to take one of the three other places up for grabs.

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