Dangerous Davydenko rolls on

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Dangerous Davydenko rolls on

MELBOURNE: Dangerous Russian Nikolay Davydenko produced another top notch performance to make the fourth round of the Australian Open, beating Argentinian Juan Monaco in straight sets 6-0, 6-3, 6-4 on Saturday.

Davydenko, the sixth seed, has yet to drop a set in three matches and has conceded just 17 games in nine sets in reaching the last 16 for the fifth year in a row.

The win over the 30th-seeded Monaco in one hour and 49 minutes also extended his current winning streak to 12 matches.

Monaco was powerless to stop an early onslaught as the Russian 28-year-old reeled off the first nine games in quick time.

The Argentinian won just eight points in the first set and took until the fourth game of the second set to get on the board.

Such was the dominance of Davydenko that Monaco raised his arms in triumph and looked thankfully to the heavens when he finally held serve to open his account.

Monaco was more competitive in the third set, achieving his only break of the match, but Davydenko quickly steadied and a break of his own in the ninth game allowed him to serve out the match.

Davydenko, who has never made a Grand Slam final, hit 22 winners on his way to his fourth win in five meetings with Monaco, while his opponent could only manage four.

The Russian''s opponent in the fourth round is likely to be ninth seed Fernando Verdasco, who plays qualifier Stefan Koubek later.

[Mohammad Sajid]

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