So NIKOLAY DAVYDENKO finally ends the title drought with a victory at the 2009 International German Open, an ATP World Tour 500 event. In a match that saw several trades of service breaks, the Russian registered the 6-4, 6-2 win in almost 90 minutes of play against Frenchman Paul-henri Mathieu

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Davydenko sees the opportunity at 0-30, thanks to a couple of unforced errors from the Frenchman and another backhand error gets the Russian in a comfortable position. As the game ends with an unfortunate double fault, Davydenko finds himself ready to serve for the match.

Mathieu makes a gutsy attempt to comeback into the match with some powerplay at the net, and continues to capitalise on his new found strength, the ability to win points at the net to get one of the breaks back.

Davydenko looked pretty sharp in his straight sets demolition of Frenchman Jeremy Chardy in a round of 16 match

Davydenko looks like a totally transformed man as compared to his previous matches here, where he struggled with his groundstrokes, as today he is in mood to completely dictate the points with his power and precision. With a double break now, Davydenko's win seems pretty certain.

An array of errors from Davydenko get Mathieu double break points, but the Russian brings out big serves at key moments to avoid any trade of breaks and stay ahead in the set 3-1.

Mathieu tries some defensive shots to start the service game and a couple of good serves get him a game point. Although Davydenko utilises the strength of his angled backhand again to force a deuce and after a service and a backhand error from the Frenchman, Davydenko successfully breaks Mathieu with his key to success, the BACKHAND...!

Capitalising on Davydenko errors, Mathieu races to a 15-40 double break point opportunity, but two solid serves witness the Russian bounce back, followed by a 204 kmph ace and an up the line forehand winner.

Davydenko gives stiff competition to Mathieu in the very first game of the second set, hoping to snatch an early break away, but the Frenchman serves his way out of this tricky situation to avoid any further damage.

Davydenko registered a brilliant three set win over Victor Hanescu to reach the semifinals here and with such a steely performance he became an overnight favourite.

So in a 41 minute opening set that saw a trade of service breaks and a flurry of unforced errors from the Frenchman, Davydenko won it 6-4 to take a headstart into the final.