2010 St. Petersburg Open: Saturday’s Preview
As the ATP event at St. Petersburg enters the second last day a lot of important matchups are seen scheduled for the day. With all of them being semi finals, both singles and doubles, a lot of important results will be seen at
day end.
Kazakh Mikhail Kukushkin starts off the day as he takes on the Ukrainian Illya Marchenko in the first semi final of the day. Kukushkin, or as he can be aptly called, “the seed killer” moved into the semi finals after having defeated
third seed, Janko Tipsarevic from Serbia. Earlier in the first round he had ousted another seeded player, seventh seed French Jeremy Chardy. Although both the wins were close calls, Kukushkin has managed to stay in the running so far. Betting on this run of
luck he might be able to win his semi final match and move into the final.
Marchenko moved into the semi final after doing away with German Benjamin Becker. This was an important win for Marchenko since he ousted the professional who could have been a serious contender for the title. Becker had defeated
the defending champion, Sergiy Stakhovsky in the first round.
With nobody being favourites going into the game, the pair will have to look up to talent and luck in order to gain an edge over their opponent.
The second pair to meet on the courts is an All-Russian pair, Mikhail Youzhny and Dmitry Tursunov. Top seed and world number nine, Youzhny enjoys a tad more home court advantage than Tursunov. He moved into the semi finals after
playing the longest match of the event against eighth seed, Romanian Victor Hanescu. He defeated the Romanian in two hours and forty five minutes. Youzhny defeated compatriot Evgeny Donskoy and German Daniel Brands in earlier rounds.
Wild card entry, Tursunov is a rising star into the tournament. He has enjoyed straight set wins in his last two matches. The exit of fourth seed Taiwanese Lu Yen-Hsun is credited to him since he defeated the former in their second
round matchup by 6-1, 6-4. Tursunov also defeated Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov in the quarterfinals on Friday to ease into the semis. Their match score was 6-4, 6-2.
Although Youzhny is a local favourite, Dmitry has given noteworthy performance in the event so far. With both enjoying home court advantage, the two players will have to rely solely on talent and luck for a spot in the final.
The last matchup of the day is the doubles semi final match between the Indo-Pak express, Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi from Pakistan and Rohan Bopanna from India, and the third seeded Slovak team of Filip Polasek and Igor Zelenay. After
their crash and burn in the 2010 Kremlin Cup last week, Qureshi and Bopanna have played excellently in the event to ensure their stay in the title run. Seeded second in the tournament, they defeated the Serbs, Janko Tipsarevic and Viktor Troicki in their quarterfinal
match. The Slovaks defeated the team of Michael Rusell and Pablo Andujar in their quarterfinal match.
Since they are the only two seeded teams remaining in the tournament, they can be expected to bring their A games to the court tomorrow to win a spot for themselves in the final. The winner of this match will then face the Italian
team of Potito Starace and Daniele Bracciali.
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