Marat Safin, just a few weeks short of retirement, knocked out top seed Nikolay Davydenko 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 in a high-profile first-round tie between the two Russians at the Kremlin Cup on Wednesday.
In-form Davydenko, who won last week’s Shanghai Masters to climb to No. 6 in the world, looked fatigued and jet-lagged following his long flight from China and bowed out to his friend and Davis Cup team mate after one hour, 55 minutes.
Former world No. 1 Safin, cheered on by a lively Moscow crowd, made sure his final appearance at his home tournament would last at least another day and played some inspired tennis to dismantle Davydenko in the deciding set.
“At this stage any match could be my last,” Safin said. “Actually I was a bit nervous facing Nikolay because he’s been in such a great form lately but I served and returned well and capitalized on his mistakes.”
Davydenko stayed in the running for a place in next month’s World Tour finale in London despite the defeat.
“I only played this tournament because it’s in Moscow, otherwise I would give it a miss because I’ve already won two similar tournaments this season and even if I won here also, it would not have given me any [ranking] points,” he said. “Now I have a few days to rest and prepare for Paris.”
Women’s third seed Agnieszka Radwanska was not so lucky. A first-round 6-3, 6-3 defeat by former doubles partner Maria Kirilenko effectively ended her hopes of qualifying for next week’s season-ending tournament in Doha.
“It was a tough match today, I was feeling a bit tired and exhausted,” said the Pole, who was battling with Russia’s Vera Zvonareva and Serbia’s Jelena Jankovic for the last remaining spot in the US$4.55 million extravaganza.
Italy’s fourth seed Flavia Pennetta followed Radwanska out of the Russian capital when she retired with a knee injury midway through the second set of her first-round match against Hungary’s Agnes Szavay.
Russia’s fifth and sixth seeds Nadia Petrova and Elena Vesnina were upset. Vesnina went down to 127th-ranked compatriot Evgeniya Rodina 6-1, 3-6, 6-2.
Last year’s surprise men’s champion Igor Kunitsyn was also knocked out, losing to fellow Russian Evgeny Korolev 7-6, 6-3.
Uruguay’s fifth seed Pablo Cuevas became the first player to reach the quarter-finals when he prevailed over burly Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili 3-6, 6-1, 6-4.
Third seed Mikhail Youzhny of Russia joined Cuevas in the last eight after thrashing Italian Potito Starace 6-1, 6-1.
But France’s seventh seed Fabrice Santoro was upset by Ukrainian qualifier Sergiy Stakhovsky 7-5, 6-1.
■STOCKHOLM OPEN
AP, STOCKHOLM
Top-seeded Robin Soderling breezed past Giovanni Lapentti of Ecuador 6-3, 6-0 on Wednesday in the first round at the Stockholm Open.
The Swede broke Lapentti’s serve to lead 3-1 in the opening set before a capacity center-court crowd at the Royal Tennis Hall.
Leading 5-3, Soderling faced his only break point in the match.
He saved it and then hit two service winners to close out the set.
Soderling broke Lapentti again at the start of the second set and was never challenged the rest of the way.
The 10th-ranked Soderling, who was a surprise finalist at the French Open this year, will play Andreas Seppi of Italy in the second round.
Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus ousted third-seeded Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain 6-4, 6-2 in another first-round match.
Fourth-seeeded Juan Monaco of Argentina was also eliminated, losing 6-4, 6-4 to Swedish wild card entry Joachim Johansson in the second round.
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez beat Simon Greul of Germany 6-3, 7-5 to reach the quarter-finals.
The unseeded Spaniard has not lost a set in his two matches on the Royal Tennis Hall’s hard courts.
Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil also reached the last eight, outlasting Leonardo Mayer of Argentina, 7-5, 3-6, 6-3.
Second-seeded Tommy Haas, a two-time semi-finalist in Stockholm, defeated Florent Serra of France 6-3, 6-4 in the first round.
Feliciano Lopez of Spain beat Ernests Gulbis of Latvia 6-2, 6-4 in another first-round match.
■LUXEMBOURG OPEN
AP, LUXEMBOURG
Qualifier Kirsten Flipkens beat third-seeded Anabel Medina Garrigues 7-5, 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals of the Luxembourg Open.
Fellow Belgian Yanina Wickmayer followed up her title in Linz, Austria, last week by beating Alexandra Dulgheru of Romania 6-3, 7-6 (4). She will play France’s Alize Cornet in the next round.
Top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark withdrew in the opening round with a left leg injury. US Open winner Kim Clijsters, a doubles partner of Flipkens, was to play Patty Schnyder of Switzerland yesterday for a place in the quarter-finals.
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