Davydenko leads seeded European charge in Malaysia

Russia’s Nikolay Davydenko heads a cast of European seeds as ATP tennis returns to Kuala Lumpur with Monday’s start of the Malaysian Open.

After a handful of editions a decade and a half ago, tennis will once again be on the racket sports menu in this badminton-crazed nation, with Davydenko making his first appearance of the autumn season after the US Open.

The Russian takes the top seeding ahead of Spain’s Fernando Verdasco on second, French Open finalist Robin Soderling on third and fourth-seeded Chilean Fernando Gonzalez.

Davydenko, who lost to Soderling in the New York fourth round, could be on track for a semi-final re-match with the Swede if both can win three matches at the Putra stadium.

The eighth-ranked Russian, who owns clay titles at Hamburg and Umag this season, has a first-round bye along with the other three leading seeds.

His second-round match will come against the winner from Andrey Golubev and American wild card Taylor Dent, whose comeback to form at the US Open after several years of recovery after major back surgery was one of the feel-good stories of the Grand Slam.

Also given free entries were former Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis, himself an injury victim, and Swede Jonas Johansson, who had to all but give up on a promising career with shoulder problems and who last played on the ATP almost a year ago at home in Stockholm.

KUALA LUMPUR, Sunday, AFP