2010 Kremlin Cup; Pablo Cuevas upset Radek Stepanek to reach the semis
The twenty four year old Pablo Cuevas from Uruguay upset the fifth seed Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic in a two setter clash to successfully make his way into the semi final round of the 2010 Kremlin Cup Men’s singles competition
on Friday. The final match score was 6-4, 7-6 (3).
The Salto resident, who turned professional back in 2004, captured the clay court French Open Men’s doubles title along with his partner Luis Horna back in 2008. The right hander achieved his doubles highest ranking of world number
sixteen after lifting the Movistar Open title last year.
The 1.80 meter tall Pablo has so far reached a career high ranking of world number forty five in the singles. The professional tennis player from Uruguay did not even drop a single set on his way to his first semi final round in
2010 on Friday. He also upset the top seed and three time former winner Nikolay Davydenko from Russia in the second round earlier this week.
Cuevas who is currently ranked number sixty nine in the world by the Association of tennis professionals and also contested at the Kremlin Cup Men’s Singles competition last year in Moscow.He was seeded number five to win the title.
He made his way into the quarter final round after getting the better of Teymuraz Gabashvili and Lu Yen-hsun in his second and third round respectively. The right handed Cuevas however was defeated in the quarters at the hands of Mikhail Kukushkin in a three
setter clash.The final match score was 6-4, 1-6, 4-6.
Pablo however didn’t lose his championship’s hope in the doubles event and went on to win the title, teaming up with Marcel Granollers. Prior to his participation in the Kremlin Cup last year he also played in the 2009 International
German Open where he successfully reached the semi final round after beating Bjorn Phau, Jurgen Melzer, Philipp Kohlschreiber as well as Nicolas Almagro. In the semis however, Pablo was crushed by Paul-Henri Mathieu in three sets.
The Concordia born player broke his opponent during the fifth game of the opening set today. He then bounced back from 3-2 down to level the scores at 5-5 in the following set and broke to serve for the clash. Stepanek however
broke back and forced a tie break. Cuevas closed the battle with a backhand volley on his opening match point in the end.
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