Kremlin Cup Moscow: Stapanek advances
In Kremlin Cup, Radek Stepanek made it into the second round with a 7-6 (7/5) 6-3 victory over Victor Hanescu in Moscow. The fifth seeded Stepanek won 50 out of 65 points on serve and did not face even a single break point as he progressed towards victory
in just one hour and twenty minutes.
Andrey Golubev also saw off Maximo Gonzalez with a 6-3 6-2 and the home favourite Ilya Belyaev was defeated by Alexander Dolgopolov by a 6-2 6-4.
Russia’s Igor Andreev was beaten by 2008 Kremlin Cup champion Igor Kunitsyn by 6-4 7-6 (7/5). Kunitsyn will now meet Golubev. Denis Istomin from Uzbekistan defeated Ilya Marchenko by 6-7 (4-7) 6-2 6-2.
Victor Crivoi achieved his third ATP Tour win of the year 2010 by getting over Andrey Kuznetsov by 7-6 (7/4) 6-3. Other names included in list of advancing players are Pablo Cuevas and Mikhail Kukushkin.
Home favourite Nikolay Davydenko was defeated by advancing Pablo Cuevas, so Davydenko was a major casualty in Kremlin Cup. He is the three time winner of this event and also has an honour of being number one seed in the Russian capital.
He lost 7-6 (8/6) 7-6 (7/5) in an hour and forty-eight minutes. The Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas, who is ranked 47th in the World by winning this match secured his first ever ATP Tour victory against a top 20 player. Davydenko hugely disappointed his
home fans by losing this match.
The fourth seed Marcos Baghdatis had a much more straightforward day as he saw off Italy’s Potito Starace 6-4 6-3 in 62 minutes and the Czech fifth seed Radek Stepanek defeated Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Kukushkin 6-3 6-2.
Unfortunately the defending champion Mikhail Youzhny had to leave the tournament as he was suffering from some serious viral infection.
Turning to the women’s tournament, Maria Kirilenko of Russia brought great joy to her home fans by reaching the second round with a victory over Alexandra Dulgheru with a 6-2 6-2. On the other hand, Anna Chakvetadze got a win over third seed Li Na by 6-4
6-2.
Another Russian Elena Vesnina made Italy’s Flavia Pennetta to leave the tournament. Pennetta was dumped out by Vesnina by a 6-4 2-6 6-2. Klara Zakopalova also had to move out as Maria Koryttseva advanced as a qualifier with a 3-6 6-3 7-5 win.
Alisa Kleybanova went through by beating Lucie Safarova by a 6-2 6-7 (4/7) 7-6 (7/1) and Sara Errani was a 6-3 6-4 winner against Olga Savchuk. Other names included in the list of progressing players are Andrea Petkovic, Vera Dushevina and Tsvetana Pironkova.
The 21-year old Victoria Azarenka secured her place in the quarter finals with a victory which also sealed her position in the elite field for the season ending WTA Championship starting in Doha next month.
The second seeded from Belarus, against Andrea Petkovic, lost in the second set but tried hard to recover successfully in the third set and closed the match at 6-4 2-6 6-1. Azarenka will appear in the Doha Championship next month along with Kim Clijsters,
Vera Zvonareva, Caroline Wozniacki, Samantha Stosur, Jelena Jonkovic, Francesca Schiavone and Elena Dementieva. Azarenka will now face Russian seventh seed Alisa Kleybanova as an opponent in the last eight in this tournament in Moscow. Alisa saw off Sara Errani
7-6 (7/0) 6-4.
The Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova got a win over Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria with a splendid 6-4 6-1. On the other hand Spain’s Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, eighth seed saw off Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine with 6-4 1-6 6-1.
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