Nikolai Davydenko, Russia"s top men"s tennis...

The unsung Russian, who has spent most of his 10-year career in the shadow of Marat Safin despite ending each of the past five years in the top 10, swept past U.S. Open winner Juan Martin del Potro 6-3, 6-4 in recording the biggest win of his career on Sunday.

He had beaten Roger Federer, the winner of this year"s Wimbledon and Australian Open, and French Open champ Rafael Nadal, to return to the final, which he lost in Shanghai last year against Novak Djokovic.

After ousting world No. 1 Federer in the semifinal - his first victory over the Swiss on his 13th attempt - Davydenko"s confidence shone through as the baseline specialist fired back everything the giant Argentine could throw at him in the final.

He said after the victory that he would spend some of the $1.5 million prize money on an apartment in Moscow, and joked that maybe now he would get recognized on the street.

"It was always disappointing when I played against Marat and it was 80 percent

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