Davydenko wins German Open

Nikolay Davydenko claimed top honours in the 2009 German Open on Sunday, defeating Paul-Henri Mathieu in the final major clay court event of the season.

Second seeded Davydenko defeated his French opponent 6-4, 6-2 to claim his first title of the season. Davydenko took the German Open title having dropped just one set during the course of the tournament.

“When you win the tournament then you always say it’s the best week because before I did not win any tournaments,” Davydenko told reporters after the match. “It was semi-finals, quarter-finals and once I got to the final and won the tournament. It’s a very good week for me.”

“I’m very happy because I’ve won 15 ATP World Tour titles. I was surprised at the beginning as Mathieu started playing very well. I started fighting to come back and for me it was very good play to win the first set 6-4. Then every point, every game was important and I won 6-2.”

Mathieu was quick to praise his German Open final opponent, whilst also suggesting that he’d come into the match as a spent force.

“I think he played a great match today,” Mathieu said. “He was very solid. I think I would have needed a bit more energy to win today. I think I was less aggressive than yesterday. I left pretty much energy on the court yesterday and to beat a guy like Nikolay you have to be 100 per cent physically.”