Nikolay Davidenko Wins Shanghai Masters

His serves were faster than Nadal's; he moved faster; he was always the one to take risks when a rally came to a deadlock.

To those watching, it was clear why the lower-ranked Nikolay Davidenko beat the current world's number two.

In fact, the Russian managed to break serve twice, Nadal just managing this once.

He also dominated the tiebreak, winning 7-3.

Yet Nadal remained relatively upbeat despite his drubbing.

"I was competing in prime condition. That's the most positive thing for me, and I fought all the time with a positive attitude and no physical problems. So that's very good news for me."

The Spaniard who returned to the men's circuit after a four-month rest needs time to regain full fitness following knee and ankle injuries, which slowed him down substantially in Shanghai.

Davidenko clearly had his opponent's weaknesses in mind during the game.

"I knew he could never do any backhand long line winners. That was why I was standing there prepared for the forehand short cross. He needs to run much faster, because he is too slow running from backhand to forehand."

The 28-year-old Russian received the trophy from the President of International Olympic Committee Jacques Rogge.

He also pocketed more than 610,000 dollars of prize money, and 1,000 points which will move him up one place to No.7 on next week's new ATP singles rankings.

Speaking of the future, the ATP veteran said he's still hungry for a Grand Slam title, but has his hunger under control.

"Once in my career, winning a Grand Slam, it's the most important thing for every tennis player. It's no special dream. If you win, it's wonderful; if not, bad luck, you go for the next tournament. That's my opinion always step by step every week."

In the men's doubles final held earlier, French pair Julien Benneteau and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga won over Poland's Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski.

Damin, CRI News, Shanghai.