Anderson Upsets Former Champ Davydenko

© Getty ImagesKevin Anderson won 80 percent of points on his first serve.

South African giant Kevin Anderson claimed one of his biggest wins of the year at the Sony Ericsson Open Wednesday, taking out 2008 Miami champion Nikolay Davydenko 6-4, 6-3. The Johannesburg titlist won 80 percent of points on his first serve and converted all three break point chances on the Russian’s serve.

Anderson, who stands 6’ 8”, had played Davydenko once before, losing a five-set thriller in the first round at Wimbledon last year. “I was pretty happy with the way I played today,” Anderson said. “I just felt I had to play my game. In the rallies and how the match was progressing, I felt pretty controlled.”

Davydenko’s current South African Airways 2011 ATP Ranking of No. 42 didn’t alter Anderson’s game plan. “He’s always had a great career. I know he’s not at his highest ranking, but a player like that with so much experience is always going to be a tough match. “I thought I did a great job on his second serve. He returns so well, so it was really important to mix up my serves.”

The loss was just the latest of early-round exits for Davydenko. After defeating Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals of Doha, the Russian is just 2-7, failing to win back-to-back matches.

Former Sony Ericsson Open finalist Ivan Ljubicic went down to Italian Pablo Lorenzi. After taking the first set in a tie-break, the Italian rolled in the second set, winning 27 of the 41 points. 17th seeded Richard Gasquet awaits Lorenzi in the second round.

Ivan Dodig lost the opening set to Andrey Golubev in 16-point tie-break, but came back to win 6-7(7), 6-4, 6-0. No. 4 seed Robin Soderling is the Croatian’s next opponent. Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Kukushkin also rallied from a set down, defeating Finnish veteran Jarkko Nieminen 3-6, 6-3, 6-2. He’ll next square off against American Sam Querrey, the No. 19 seed in a second round clash.

Wild card Bernard Tomic, of Australia was ousted by Spain’s Pablo Andujar, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5. A late break in the match secured the victory for Andujar, who now plays ninth-seeded Fernando Verdasco.