Kremlin Cup—Moscow, Russia
Second seed Victor Hanescu was handed his fifth consecutive loss on Tuesday, squandering a match point in a losing effort to Wayne Odesnik.
Odesnik's 5-7, 7-5, 6-4 victory featured the American saving a match point at 4-5 in the second set, while capitalizing on 6-of-11 break point chances.
Odesnik, who made his maiden ATP World Tour final in Houston, Texas earlier this spring, won 70 percent of his first serve points, and struck seven aces during the two hour, and 15 minute encounter.
The 23-year-old American improved to 9-11 on the season, and captured his first win on the circuit since advancing to the second round in Washington, D.C. this summer.
Odesnik reflected on his first ever win in Moscow during his post match presser.
“There were a lot of changes in the match, I was up a break twice in the first set, but I kept fighting even though I lost it,” said Odesnik.
“I was mentally strong today and stayed with him the whole match. After I saved the match point at 4-5 on my serve in the second set, I felt he got a bit tired and down on himself and I was able to raise my game.”
Odesnik's victory over Hanescu became the second time this season the Florida resident had defeated a player ranked No. 31 in the world. Odesnik also defeated Jurgen Melzer en route to the finals in Houston, when the Austrian held the 31st ranking on tour.
Hanescu, who dropped to 25-30 on the year, has failed to win a match on tour since defeating Janko Tipsarevic in the first round of New Haven.
“I did not play very well today, the surface is slower than last week (in Shanghai) and I struggled adjusting to it. I don’t have so much confidence at the moment. I lost first round to top players in the past couple of weeks, but I hope I will find my rhythm again,” reflected Hanescu.
With the win, Odesnik will now face Mikhail Kukushkin, who defeated tough Italian Fabio Fognini, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4.
Kukushkin's win, which took two hours, and 26 minute to complete featured Fognini capitalizing on 5 of 5 on break point chances, while losing his serve on six occasions.
Elsewhere, season-ending retiree Fabrice Santoro kept his dreams alive of capturing a final tour on Tuesday, dispatching of local Russian wildcard Andrey Kuznetsov 4-6, 6-2, 6-2. The one hour and 57 minute battle was highlighted by six aces by Santoro, while his 18-year-old opponent squandered his first set lead, donating one double fault, and winning a mere 55 percent of his first serve points.
Santoro, who was double the age of his opponent, displayed his veteran court-craft in capturing his 15th match win of the season. Santoro will now head to the second round where he will meet qualifier Sergiy Stakhovsky, who destroyed wildcard recipient Mikhail Biryukov 6-0, 6-2 in 47 minutes.
Stakhovsky won 83 percent of his first serve points, while breaking the serve of his 17-year-old opponent on five occasions. Stakhovsky and Santoro have never met on the ATP World Tour.
Other first round matches that were completed on Tuesday included:
No. 6 seed Janko Tipsarevic defeating the always entertaining Daniel Koellerer 6-4, 6-3; Andrey Golubev upsetting No. 8 seed Martin Vassallo Arguello 7-5, 6-3; Christophe Rochus benefited when his opponent Marc Gicquel retired with a sore throat, trailing 7-5; and Marcel Granollers advanced to the second round when Nicolas Kiefer retired in the second set, trailing 6-4, 1-0 with a lower back injury.
It seems as though the injury bug from Shanghai has carried over to Moscow.
The day's final match will see No. 4 seed Igor Andreev take on one-time US Open semifinalist Robby Ginepri. Both men share similar stats across the board, including career prize money, height, age, and career titles.
Ginepri captured his first title in four seasons in Indianapolis earlier this summer, while Andreev is in search of his first title of the year.
If Stockholm Open—Sweden
Former top 10 player Arnaud Clement snapped a six match losing streak on Tuesday, defeating the formidable challenge of No. 5 seed Andreas Beck 6-4, 6-2.
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