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.
Clement, who hadn't won a tour level match since defeating Dmitry Tursunov at the French Open earlier this spring, won 92 percent of his first serve points, while holding Beck to a miserable 32 percent of second serve points won.
At age 31, Clement is in the twilight of his career. The one-time Australian Open finalist (l. Agassi '01), saw his year-to-date record improve to a humbling 8-17.
"It was much better today," said Clement. "I've been losing in the first round of challenger events in the past few weeks, but I'm starting to play much better. I've won a few matches in the last few days and it's great for my confidence.
"I wasn't feeling great physically in the last few months and lost all my confidence. Winning qualifying matches has helped me find my form, and winning my first main-draw match since Roland Garros against a seed helps a lot."
Clement will next face hard-hitting German Michael Berrer, who defeated Henri Kontinen 7-5, 7-6 (7) in two hours, and nine minutes.
Berrer improved to 4-6 on the season, while his 19-year-old Finnish opponent fell to 3-3 on the year.
Clement and Berrer, both qualifiers in the event, will be vying for their first quarterfinal showing of the season.
Elsewhere, matches that have yet to take the court on Tuesday will feature:
Oliver Rochus vs. Andreas Vinciguerra, Grigor Dimitrov vs. Jarko Nieminen, Fredick Nielsenn vs. Thomaz Bellucci, Robert Kendrick vs. Oscar Hernandez, and Victor Crivoi vs. Andreas Seppi.
In particular, the Rochus vs. Vincinguerra, and Dimitrov vs. Nieminen encounters will be of interest to the Swedish fans.
Vincinguerra has been restricted to limited action on tour this year, and will be aiming to improve on his 4-7 win-loss mark. Vinciguerra advanced the semifinals in Bastad, Sweden this summer (as a wildcard), and will attempt to recapture his home-country glory against his steady Belgium opponent.
Dimitrov, who is being touted as the next Roger Federer, will battle the feisty challenge of his Finnish opponent Nieminen. Dimitrov has been diligently working away in his French Academy outside of France, and will be looking to capture his fourth victory of the season, improving to 5-5.
Nieminen, who has battled various wrist and groin injuries throughout the season, will be attempting to win his 11th match of the year. The 28-year-old Masku native reached the finals of Sydney in Januray (l. Nalbandian), and will look to gain as much momentum as possible heading into the 2010 season.
Wednesday's featured matches in Stockholm will include:
Top seed Robin Soderling vs. Giovanni Lapentti, Tommy Haas vs. Florent Serra, and Feliciano Lopez vs. Ernests Gulbis.
Please check back on Wednesday for a continuing daily coverage from Moscow, and Sweden.
Cheers.
All quotes courtesy of the theatpworldtour.com.
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