2010 Kremlin Cup – Highlights: Starring Pablo Cuevas, Denis Istomin and Viktor Troicki
The Uruguayan tennis sensation Pablo Cuevas got the better of his fifth seeded foe Radek Stepanek from the Czech Republic in two sets at the 2010 Kremlin Cup Men’s singles competition. The final match score was 6-4, 7-6(3).
"It was a tough match, very even, the difference with New Haven was that I served better and made fewer errors. I played more aggressive without missing as much as I did in New Haven. I came to Moscow for the first time last year and had
a nice time, I like the courts and it is a good event,” reflected Pablo after the victory.
Pablo, who has yet to miss a set in three weeks on the tour, reached his first ATP World Tour final four of the season after equalling his year mark to 19-19. He has made his way into the final four at three clay court tournaments so far
in 2010. The right hander will definitely attempt to register his name as the first tennis contender from Uruguayan to advance into an ATP World Tour title battle since Marcelo Filippini captured Poelten back in 1997.
Radek won sixty one percent of his service points and as a result of his quarter final round has dropped down to 14-14 mark on the season. The thirty one year old previously remained out of the action for two and a half months as a result
of mononucleosis and made a comeback on the tour back in May.
Meanwhile, the fourth seed Marcos Baghdatis avenged his recent China Open loss at the hands of Alexandr Dolgopov with a comprehensive two setter victory last Friday. The final match score was 6-2, 7-6(7). Marcos who won forty six of sixty
points on serve needed just eighty three minutes to close out the battle in Moscow.
Both of them blasted a total of seven aces in the quarter final round. Marcos, as a result of this victory has made his way into his sixth ATP World Tour final four or better in 2010. It was his 41stvictory of the season, highlighted
by a single crown he won at the Medibank International Sydney earlier in January.
"I am the favourite now however I need to be focused and just worry about my next match. Denis is tough; I played him once last year. I lost to Dolgopolov at the China Open after leading in the first set and in the second set. I took my
chances this time and I was a bit lucky in the tie-break,” added Marcos.
Elsewhere, the Moscow resident Denis Istomin proved too strong for his opponent, Igor Kunitsyn, a qualifier from Russia in a two setter battle on Friday. The score line was 6-2, 6-4.The clash concluded in a time period of seventy two minutes
in Moscow.
The twenty four year old Uzbekistani, as a result of this victory has improved to a match record of 32-25 on the season. He previously ended as a runner up at the Pilot pen tournament back in August.
Viktor Troicki of Serbia also progressed into his fourth ATP World Tour final four in 2010 after surpassing the Horacio Zeballos from Argentina, who received an award of ATP Newcomer of the year back in 2009, in two sets on Friday. The
final match score was 6-2, 6-1. The battle was lasted to a time period of sixty six minutes in Moscow.
Viktor completely outclassed the world number eighty nine Zeballos, missing eleven points on serve and firing six aces to post his 32nd victory in 2010. Horacio, on the other hand was unable to convert any of his
break point chances in his match against Viktor on Friday.
Tags: