Nikolay Davydenko enjoyed a nice evening off here at the ATP Masters Cup as the winner of two round-robin matches in Gold Group breezily beat Mariano Puerta in straight sets on Friday.

Davydenko, converting three of six break points into efforts, won 9 aces and 25 winners against 17 unforced errors for the victory in a time of a little bit more than one hour.

The 24-year-old, who has taken the place of Marat Safin to be the highest-ranked Russian in the world, was already safely through to the semifinals of the year-ending event and has definitely finished at the top of the Gold Group with two straight-set wins before Friday's encounter against the last groupopponent.

Puerta, alternate for the second seed Rafael Nadal who withdrewwith an injured left foot before the Masters debuter kicking off his compaign on Monday, lost both of his former matches and only played for his pride against Davydenko.

The 27-year-old, however, preferred an easy giving up on Friday,cracking only 8 winner but committing 25 unforced errors when facing the much more agressive Davydenko.

To make matters worse, Puerta is currently in denial of reportsmade last month in the French sports daily L'Equipe that he has tested positive for the stimulant etilefrine following his four-set defeat by Nadal in this year's French Open final.

The Argentinian served a nine-month suspension after testing positive for the prohibited drug clenbuterol in February 2003. Should he be found guilty of a second offence, Puerta, who lost his first match 6-3, 7-5 against fellow Argentinian Gaston Gaudio,faces a life ban.