He did not win back-to-back matches until the US Open. At the Open, he lost in the fourth round to qualifier Gilles Müller, 4–6, 6–4, 3–6, 6–7, breaking his streak of two straight semifinals. Davydenko reached the semifinals at the Paris Masters, losing to David Nalbandian, 1–6, 7–5, 4–6. Davydenko qualified for the Tennis Masters Cup for the fourth consecutive year. He beat Juan Martín del Potro and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the round-robin matches to progress to the semifinals, where he defeated Andy Murray, 7–5, 6–2, to reach the final. There he met Novak Djokovic, losing 1–6, 5–7. Davydenko finished the year ranked no. 5 in the world and in the top 5 for the fourth consecutive year. 2009 Davydenko started the year at an exhibition in Abu Dhabi, which featured six of the world's best players. Davydenko defeated Andy Roddick, 6–4, 6–4, before being defeated by top seed Rafael Nadal, 6–2, 6–3. His first tour tournament was in Chennai, India, where he was the top seed. He defeated Daniel Köllerer in straight sets, but was forced to withdraw before his second-round match against Lukáš Dlouhý because of a left heel injury. This injury subsequently forced Davydenko to withdraw from the Australian Open. In Rotterdam, he was defeated in the second round by Julien Benneteau. The injury he sustained in Chennai earlier in the year returned, forcing Davydenko to withdraw from the 1000 Series tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami. This caused his ranking to fall from no. 5 to no. 9 by April 6. Davydenko returned to the tour after a two-month absence. In Monte Carlo, he defeated Ivo Karlović and David Nalbandian, before being eliminated by Andy Murray in the quarterfinals, 6–7, 4–6. In Barcelona, he posted back-to-back three-set wins over Feliciano López and Radek Štěpánek. He was ousted by world no. 1 Rafael Nadal in the semifinals, 3–6, 2–6. Despite his run in Barcelona, his ranking slipped out of the top 10 for the first time since May 23, 2005. Davydenko was upset in the early rounds in Rome. Davydenko reached his second semifinal of the year in Estoril by eliminating Juan Carlos Ferrero in the second round and Mardy Fish in the quarterfinals, but was stopped by American James Blake, 7–6, 6–7, 3–6. In his last tournament before the French Open, Nikolay advanced to the third round in Madrid, before he was forced to withdraw before