Nikolay Davydenko
Moscow, Russia (Sports Network) – Top-seeded and defending champion Nikolay Davydenko and fifth-seeded Marat Safin were among Tuesday’s winners at the $1 million ATP Kremlin Cup. Davydenko defeated Safin in last year’s all-Russian finale here.
Davydenko won his sixth straight match at this event by beating France’s Jo- Wilfried Tsonga 7-6 (7-0), 6-2, while the former world No. 1 Safin held off his qualifier fellow Russian Denis Matsukevitch 7-6 (7-2), 7-5 on the indoor surface at Olympic Stadium.
The gritty Davydenko, who also captured this tournament in 2004, will face Ecuador’s Nicolas Lapentti in the second round.
Fourth-seeded Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu mauled veteran Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean 6-2, 6-2, while seventh-seeded Russian Dmitry Tursunov outlasted German qualifier Mischa Zverev 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. Mathieu titled here in 2002.
Another Russian winner on Day 2 was wild card Igor Kunitsyn, who outlasted Argentine Diego Hartfield 7-6 (7-1), 1-6, 6-1.
Additional wins came for the aforementioned Lapentti, Belgian Kristof Vliegen, Croatian qualifier Marin Cilic and German Michael Berrer.
Source: www.tsn.ca
