• Sony Ericsson Open

Davydenko downed by impressive Anderson

ESPN staff
March 23, 2011
Kevin Anderson was delighted to beat Nikolay Davydenko © Getty Images
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Sony Ericsson Open seedings

A sub-par Nikolay Davydenko was dumped out of the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami by South Africa's Kevin Anderson.

Davydenko beat the big server in five sets at Wimbledon last year, but it was a different story this time around in their first round clash.

Anderson didn't give away so much as a sniff of a break point to the Russian in their one-hour 18 minute match, taking all three he created for himself on the way to a 6-4 6-3 victory.

With higher ranked players given a bye into the second round, few major names were in action. However, Juan Martin del Potro continued his impressive return from long-term injury with a solid display against Brazilian Ricardo Mello.

The Argentinian saw his serve broken once in either set, but he fought back manfully to overcome those slips - eventually triumphing 6-4 6-4 in just over 80 minutes.

Xavier Malisse was another player who managed to avoid an upset defeat, the Belgian winning a scrappy affair that saw five breaks against American Ryan Sweeting, 7-6(3) 6-4.

Other winners on Wednesday included Ivan Dodig, Pablo Andujar and Marcel Granollers.

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