2010 St. Petersburg Open; Preview of the opening two clashes on Wednesday
An action-packed schedule on Wednesday will highlight seven matches at the 2010 St. Petersburg Open in Russia. Five of the clashes will feature seeds, including the top seed and 2004 winner Mikhail Youzhny, the second seed and last year’s winner Sergiy Stakhovsky
from Ukraine, the third seed Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia, the fourth seed Yen Hsun Lu a well as the fifth seed Serbian Viktor Troicki.
In the opening match of the day, Benjamin Becker of Germany will take on Sergiy in their career first ever meeting on the centre court. The 29-year-old Benjamin who turned professional back in 2005 enters with a match record of 26-29 on the season. World
number fifty seven has so far reached the semi-final round in Halle, s-Hertogenbosch, Bangkok and quarter final in Delray Beach in 2010.
The right handed Benjamin who achieved his career high ranking of world number thirty eight back in 2007 is coming off his Shanghai Rolex appearance in China two weeks ago. The German successfully made his way into the main draw of the event after two victories
in the qualifying rounds.
The Mettlach resident, however, lost in the opening round match at the hands of Gael Monfils. He next advanced into the second round of the 2010 If Stockholm Open where the German was crushed by the world number five and second seed Robin Soderling of Sweden.
Benjamin is appearing in Russia on the very first occasion in his career, whereas, Stakhovsky captured last season’s trophy as a qualifier who was ranked number ninety three at that time.
The right handed, Stakhovsky won the s-Hertogenbosch title as well as New Haven trophy earlier this season after getting the better of Tipsarevic and Istomin in the finals respectively. He also reached the quarter final in Nice this season. The Ukrainian
who is currently ranked number thirty four in the South African Airways 2010 ATP list enters with a match record of 26-22 on the year. He reached a career high ranking of number thirty one last month.
Second up is the 24-year-old Serbian Viktor Troicki who will face Rainer Schuettler from Germany. The 34-year-old Rainer is the oldest contender in the singles draw. The German is currently ranked number 103 in the world and reached the semi-final in Queen's
Club and quarter final in Los Angeles so far in 2010. The right hander who made his ATP World tour debut back in 1995 enters with a match record of 11-16 on the season. He is coming off his Thailand Open appearance in Bangkok where he defeated Ricardo Mello
in the opening round before losing to Ernests Gulbis in the next in three sets. The final score line was 6-7, 7-6, 4-6.
World number thirty three Viktor captured the Moscow trophy this season after getting the better of Marcos Baghdatis in the title battle in straight sets. He has also reached the semi-final in Doha, New Heaven, Tokyo and quarter final in Zagreb and Belgrade
so far in 2010. The 24-year-old Serbian stands at a win loss mark of 34-28 on the year. The right hander has so far won a single title on the ATP World Tour.
He leads the pair head-to-head encounter at 3-1. Rainer, however, has an 11-7 lifetime mark in St. Petersburg and has also advanced in the title battle back in 2001 and semi-final round back in 2003.
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