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MOSCOW, Oct 23: Second seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov, who won the inaugural Saint Petersburg Open in 1995, moved into the second round of the 800,000-dollar ATP event here on Tuesday.
Russia’s Olympic champion outclassed Armenia’s Sargis Sargsian 7-6 (7/3), 6-2 to wrap up a 77-minute victory at the Saint Petersburg indoor tennis stadium.
Kafelnikov, who is currently sixth in the ATP race, is looking for an impressive performance in this event to assure a place in the season-ending Masters tournament in Sydney.
In the beginning, Kafelnikov showed an obvious lack of concentration, while the 28-year-old Sargsian got off to a flying start to lead 4-0.
Nevertheless, 27-year-old Kafelnikov tightened up his game to pull the scores level at 5-5 before he won the opening set in the tiebreak.
Sargsian, who is 75th in the ATP race, tried to fight back in the second set but Kafelnikov was always in command and easily went on for his third victory in four head-to-head matches.
Briton Greg Rusedski had a one-hour victory over Andrei Stoliarov of Russia, beating him in straight sets 6-1, 6-4.
Rusedski, seventh seed here, easily stifled Stoliarov’s game in the opening set winning 6-1 in just 20 minutes.
In the second set Russia’s 24-year-old provided Rusedski with a tougher test but Rusedski still looked in command, winning the set 6-4 and therefore the match.
Another Russian player Mikhail Youzhny, 19, saw off Spaniard Alex Calatrava also in straight sets 7-5, 7-5 to make the second round.
ST PETERSBURG: Briton Greg Rusedski powered past Russian Andrei Stoliarov 6-1 6-4 on Tuesday to reach the second round of the St Petersburg Open.
“I’m pleased with the way I played. The last time I lost to him (Stoliarov) in three sets,” the seventh seed said.
The only previous meeting between the two players was in the President’s Cup in Tashkent, Uzbekistan last year.
“Finally my serve worked again today and I was also moving well and hitting the ball well,” Rusedski said.
“It took me some time to get used to the change from clay courts in the Davis Cup to the indoor season.”
Rusedski’s powerful serve was on song as he hit seven aces to overwhelm his Russian opponent just over an hour.
“It is very important for me to get my match win indoors. It will be good for my confidence against my next opponent, either (Jiri) Novak or (Max) Mirnyi,” Rusedski said.
A tournament official confirmed they were using titanium balls rather than the ones used in most tournaments.
World number 26 Dominik Hrbaty was upset 6-3 7-6 by French qualifier Michael Llodra, who is ranked 87 places below him.
Results (prefix number denotes seeding,):
First round: 2-Yevgeny Kafelnikov (Russia) beat Sargis Sargsian (Armenia) 7-6 (7-3) 6-2 Attila Savolt (Hungary) beat Jacobo Diaz (Spain) 6-4 7-5 7-Greg Rusedski (Britain) beat Andrei Stoliarov (Russia) 6-1 6-4 Michael Llodra (France) beat Dominic Hrbaty (Slovakia) 6-3 7-6 (7-3) Felix Mantilla (Spain) beat Irakli Labadze (Georgia) 6-4 7-6 (7-3) Mikhail Yuzhny (Russia) beat Alex Calatrava (Spain) 7-5 7-5 Stefan Koubek (Austria) beat Jiri Vanek (Czech Republic) 6-1 7-6 (7-0).
BASLE: First round results from the Swiss Indoors ATP tennis tournament on Tuesday (prefix number denotes seeding): 5-Arnaud Clement (France) beat Gaston Gaudio (Argentina) 6-4 6-1 Nikolay Davydenko (Russia) beat Galo Blanco (Spain) 6-1 6-4 Nicolas Thomann (France) beat Juan Balcells (Spain) 6-4 2-6 6-2 Michel Kratochvil (Switzerland) beat Albert Portas (Spain) 5-7 7-6 (7-1) 6-1—AFP/Reuters
