2010 Kremlin Cup Match preview; Marcos Baghdatis versus Denis Istomin
There are three contenders in this year’s semi finals of the 2010 Kremlin Cup Men’s singles competition in Moscow who are looking to secure their first ATP World Tour crown of the career. Earlier in 2010, there have been three first-time champions namely
John Isner in Auckland, Ernests Gulbis in Delray Beach and Andrey Golubev in Hamburg. The previous first-time champion in Moscow was Kunitsyn who won the title back in 2008.
In the first semi-final battle of the day, Viktor Troicki will meet Pablo Cuevas on the centre court for a final berth in Moscow.
Second up, is the fourth seed Marcos Baghdatis and Denis Istomin who will face each other on the very first occasion on the ATP World tour this season.
World number nineteen Marcos who is twenty five years of age is appearing in Moscow on the very first occasion and will take part in his sixth ATP World Tour semi-final or better in 2010. He enters with a match record of 41-25 on the season and is trying
to make his way into his ninth career ATP World Tour final in Moscow.
His best result came towards the start of the season in January when he won his fourth career ATP World Tour crown in Sydney after getting the better of Richard Gasquet. Marcos made his way into his first title battle on the soil of the United States of
America in Washington where he was defeated by David Nalbandian. The right hander improved his ranking back into the top twenty in August and is currently ranked number nineteen in the world by the Association of tennis professionals.
Marcos is also the only contender on the ATP tour to surpass both Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, while they were ranked number one in the world in 2010. He toppled the Swiss tennis maestro back in March after preventing three match points to win in the
third round in Indian Wells. Four months later, the 25-year-old Marcos dispatched off Nadal in the final eight battle at the Cincinnati Masters this season. The professional tennis player is currently working under the coaching supervision of Guillaume Peyre
of France.
World number forty six Istomin on the other hand, is the top tennis contender from Uzbekistan. The 23-year-old is appearing in his fourth ATP World Tour final four or better in 2010 and stands at a match record of 32-25 on the season.
The Uzbek tennis ace prior to the year’s final Grand Slam, the United States Open in New York reached his first ATP World Tour title battle in New Heaven where he was thrashed out by Stakhovsky. He enjoys a lifetime mark of 4-3 in Moscow. The right hander
was also a semi-finalist in San Jose back in February where he lost to Verdasco as well as in Eastbourne where his tournament’s campaign was ended by Garcia-Lopez so far in 2010.
The Moscow resident also made his way into the quarter final round in Hamburg back in July, losing to the ultimate winner Golubev in the end. The Uzbek who achieved his career high ranking of world number thirty nine back in August this season also reached
the third round at the Australian Open in Melbourne as well as in Wimbledon earlier in 2010.
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