2010 Kremlin Cup men’s singles competition, today’s schedule of play
The 21st edition of the Kremlin Cup kicks off on Monday with a strong field led by the Nikolay Davydenko in Moscow. Nikolay, who has so far won the title here on a total of three occasions back in 2004, 2004 as well as 2007 is once again the top seed to
win the title in spite of the fact that he has dropped down to number eleven in the World this week for the first time since 2009.
In today’s schedule of the play, the number two Italian, Potito Starace, will take on Teymuraz Gabashvili on the third occasion in his career, followed by another match between the wild card entrant, Dmotry Tursunov and Viktor Troicki from Serbia.
The twenty-nine year old Starace currently enjoys a match record of 23-21 and his best result was a finalist run in Umag where he was defeated by Ferrero in the title battle back in August.
The Italian was also a semi finalist in Casablanca as well as Nice, falling to the ultimate winner on both occasions. Starace has also played quite impressively in Challengers, posting a 20-8 mark with finalist appearance in Turin, Genova as well as Lugano.
This is his fourth appearance in Russia in a row.
He registered his first victory against Evgeny Donskoy before falling down to the ultimate winner Mikhail Youzhny back in 2009.
Gabashvili, on the other hand is appearing in Moscow with a match record of 8-14 this year. His best result came in New Heaven this season where the twenty-five year old Gabashvili ended as a quarter finalist back in August.
On his way into the quarters, Gabashvili got the better of Xavier Malisse, Potito Starace as well as Andrey Golubev in straight sets. He stands at 4-6 lifetime in Moscow, advancing into the second round back in 2005, 06, 08 as well as last year. However,
Gabashvili has played well in the Challenger events this season, making his way into four finals at Lugano, Biella, San Remo and St. Brieuc.
The twenty-seven year old Tursunov, who will take on Viktor Troicki in the second match of the day in Moscow is coming off his quarter final showdown at the Japan Open in Tokyo few days ago where he was eventually defeated at the hands of World number one
Rafael Nadal in straight sets.
It is his seventh ATP World Tour main draw of the season. He stands at a match record of 3-6 this year. Tursunov recorded his best result in Moscow back in 2005 after reaching the semi final round. He came back on the tour back in May at the French Open
after being sidelined due to his ankle injury.
World number forty-three, Viktor, on the other hand, enters with a match record of 29-28 this year. He has so far made his way into a total of three semi final rounds on the tour. The Serbian also made his way into the quarter final round in Zagreb back
in February where he was toppled by Berrer as well as in Belgrade where Wawrinka got the better of the Serb in straight sets.
His best result in Moscow was a quarter final appearance two years ago and he currently stands at 2-2 in the tournament. Viktor is also a part of the Serbian Davis Cup side that will take part in the title battle towards the end of this season against France.
He got past John Isner from the United States of America in the opening rubber just to loss at the hands of Marin Cilic in the following rubber.
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