Moscow Tuesday Preview

There are eight first round matches on Tuesday’s schedule at the Kremlin Cup, highlighted by a pair of former champions meeting for the third time, with qualifier Igor Kunitsyn and wild card Igor Andreev. Kunitsyn captured his lone ATP World Tour title here two years ago while Andreev won his last ATP title five years ago. Kunitsyn won both previous meetings in three sets last year.

In the first match on Centre Court, Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine meets Russian qualifier Ilya Belyaev, who is making his ATP World Tour main draw debut. In the second men’s match on Centre Court, top Romanian Victor Hanescu looks to even his record   (1-2) against No. 5 seed Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic. Stepanek is a two-time quarter-finalist in Moscow while Hanescu is 0-2.
On Court 1, No. 6 seed Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan looks for his third win of the season against Argentine Maximo Gonzalez. Golubev is one of the most improved players on the ATP World Tour this season, winning his first title in Hamburg in July and jumping from No. 133 last year to No. 34.
 
TUESDAY FIRST ROUND HEAD-TO-HEADS – In Order of Play by Court

Centre Court

Alexandr Dolgopolov (UKR) vs (Q) Ilya Belyaev (RUS)     First Meeting

Dolgopolov FastFacts:
2010 Highlights:
SF: Eastbourne (l Llodra); QF: Umag (l Ferrero)
YTD W-L: 17-20
YTD Titles: 0/Career Titles: 0
Date of Birth: November 7, 1988
South African Airways 2010 ATP Ranking: 56

• Dolgopolov, 21, is currently the youngest player in the Top 100 South African Airways 2010 ATP Rankings (No. 56) at 21 years, 11 months…He reached a career-high No. 39 on July 19
• He is making his main draw debut with a 17-20 match record on the season  (7-8 on hard) and last year finished No. 131…Completed a three-week Asian trip to Kuala Lumpur, Beijing and Shanghai and went 3-3, reaching the second round in each tournament
• The No. 2 player from Ukraine (behind No. 35 Stakhovsky) in June advanced to his first ATP World Tour semi-final in Eastbourne (l. to eventual champ Llodra)…Then reached the quarter-finals in Umag in late July (l. to Ferrero)
• Early in the season he worked his way up through the Challengers, winning the title in Meknes (d. Machado) and reaching finals in Tanger (l. to Robert) and Marrakech (l. to Nieminen), all in Morocco, in  a month span between mid-February and mid-March
• His best Grand Slam result is the 3rd Rd. at Roland Garros (d. Clement, No. 13 Gonzalez, l. to Almagro)

Belyaev FastFacts:
2010 Highlights:
YTD W-L: 0-0
YTD Titles: 0/Career Titles: 0
Date of Birth: August 9, 1990
South African Airways 2010 ATP Ranking: 334

• Belyaev, 20, qualified into his first career ATP World Tour main draw and he is the lowest-ranked player in the tournament at No. 334…He defeated top seed Pablo Andujar in the first round and No. 5 Rajeev Ram in the final round of qualifying, both in straight sets
• He has slowly improved his South African Airways 2010 ATP Ranking from No. 403 at the end of last season to a season-high No. 312 on June 7…His career-high is No. 303 on Sept. 14, 2009…By qualifying, he will pick up 12 ranking points and jump to around No. 310 next week…If he wins his first round he will break the Top 300 to around No .275
• This season the Moscow resident won Futures titles at Italy #6 in May and Russia #3 in August…He also advanced to two Futures semi-finals 
• He began playing at age four...Father, Georgi, and mother, Natalia, work in car insurance…Has a half-brother, Sergey (13)…Likes soccer (FC Barcelona)…Trains at CSKA in Moscow after four years spent in Germany (2003-07) and summer of 2009 in Barcelona…Coached by Mikhail Chesalov since 2001.

Victor Hanescu (ROU) vs (5) Radek Stepanek (CZE) Stepanek Leads 2-1
04 ATP Masters Series Paris (France) Carpet R32 Radek Stepanek 6-4 6-1
05 ATP Masters Series Monte Carlo Clay R32 Victor Hanescu 6-3 2-6 6-0
10 New Haven (U.S.A.) Hard R16 Radek Stepanek 7-6(4)6-7(4)6-4

Hanescu FastFacts:
2010 Highlights:
F: Casablanca (l Wawrinka)
YTD W-L: 24-21
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 1
Date of Birth: July 21, 1981
South African Airways 2010 ATP Ranking: 51

• Hanescu, 29, the top Romanian on the ATP World Tour, is looking for his first win (0-2) in Moscow in his third straight appearance
• He enters with a 24-21 match record on the season (6-7 on hard) and his best result was a runner-up in Casablanca in April (l. to Wawrinka) on clay…Has a 1-3 career mark in ATP World Tour finals, all on clay, with his lone title coming in Gstaad in July 2008 (d. Andreev)
• Last year finished in the Top 50 for the second straight year at No. 48 and third overall in his career (No. 36 in ’05)…His career-high ranking is No. 26 on July 6, 2009

Stepanek FastFacts:
2010 Highlights:
F: Brisbane (l Roddick); SF: Tokyo (l Monfils); QF: New Haven (l Troicki)
YTD W-L: 12-13
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 4
Date of Birth: November 27, 1978
South African Airways 2010 ATP Ranking: 37

• Stepanek, 31, is playing in his 12th ATP World Tour main draw of year and comes in with a 12-13 match record (11-13 on hard)
• His best results were a runner-up in Brisbane in first week of the year (l. to Roddick), semi-finals two weeks ago in Tokyo (l. to Monfils) and quarter-finals in New Haven (l. to Troicki) in August
• He was sidelined for two and a half months due to mononucleosis and returned end of May at Prostejov Challenger (reached final but retired against Hajek w/stomach illness)
• This is his third appearance in Moscow (4-2 record), reaching the quarter-finals in 2004 and ‘07
• Married former WTA Tour star Nicole Vaidisova on July 17, 2010 in Prague
• He reached a career-high No. 8 (has spent 12 career weeks in Top 10, all between July 10 and October 1, 2006 - peaked at No. 8 for two weeks)

(Q) Igor Kunitsyn (RUS) vs (WC) Igor Andreev (RUS) Kunitsyn Leads 2-0
09 Memphis (U.S.A.) Hard R32 Igor Kunitsyn 1-6  6-4 6-3
09 ATP Masters 1000 Shanghai (China) Hard R64 Igor Kunitsyn 6-7(6) 6-4 6-2

Kunitsyn FastFacts:
2010 Highlights:
YTD W-L: 4-12
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 1
Date of Birth: September 30, 1981
South African Airways 2010 ATP Ranking: 118

• Kunitsyn, 29, qualified into the main draw and he is appearing in the Kremlin Cup for the eighth straight year and ninth overall…Has a 14-7 mark, winning his lone ATP World Tour title two years ago (d. Safin) and reaching the semi-finals in 2005-06…Also a quarter-finalist in 2004
• This season his best results have come in Challengers with a 15-9 mark, winning the title in Astana, Kazakhstan in late August and the semi-finals in Istanbul, St. Remy and quarters in Izmir…Went 13-3 during that four tournament stretch from second week of August through third week of September
• In ATP World Tour level play has a 4-12 match record
• In March, played in first round Davis Cup tie vs. India and defeated Somdev Devvarman in four sets

Andreev FastFacts:
2010 Highlights:
SF: Costa Do Sauipe (l Kubot); Kuala Lumpur (l Youzhny); QF: Buenos Aires (l Ferrer); Belgrade (l Querrey); Gstaad (l Gimeno-Traver)
YTD W-L: 17-17
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 3
Date of Birth: July 14, 1983
South African Airways 2010 ATP Ranking: 85

• Andreev, 27, is coming off his second ATP World Tour semi-final of the year on Oct. 2 in Kuala Lumpur where he lost to countryman Mikhail Youzhny…His first semi-final was in February in Costa do Sauipe (l. to Kubot)…He also was a quarter-finalist three other times, all on clay
• He enters with a 17-17 match record (6-7 on hard) this season and comes in No. 85
• Has a 3-6 career record in finals and his last ATP World Tour title came in Moscow on Oct. 16, 2005 (d. Kiefer)…Has an 11-5 career mark in Moscow, also reaching quarter-finals in 2003 and ‘07

Court 1

Victor Crivoi (ROU) vs Andrey Kuznetsov (RUS) First Meeting

Jeremy Chardy (FRA) vs Mikhail Kukushkin (KAZ)   First Meeting

(6) Andrey Golubev (KAZ) vs Maximo Gonzalez (ARG)  Golubev Leads 2-0
10 Båstad (Sweden) Clay R32 Andrey Golubev 6-3 6-2
10 New Haven (U.S.A.) Hard R32 Andrey Golubev 6-3 2-6 6-2
Other Meeting:
07 Rome CH (Italy) Clay R16 Andrey Golubev 4-6 6-1 6-4

Court 2

Pablo Cuevas (URU) vs Daniel Brands (GER)    First Meeting

Court 3

Illya Marchenko (UKR) vs Denis Istomin (UZB)   Tied 1-1
09 Moscow (Russia) Hard R32 Illya Marchenko 1-6 6-4 4-1 ret
10 Eastbourne (Great Britain) Grass QF Denis Istomin 6-1 6-4
Other Meetings:
07 Uzbekistan F1 (Uzbekistan) Hard SF Denis Istomin 4-6 7-6(4) 6-2
08 Bukhara CH (Uzbekistan) Hard F Denis Istomin 4-6 6-2 6-4
08 Astana CH (Kazakhstan) Hard R32 Denis Istomin 6-3 6-1
09 Astana CH (Kazakhstan) Hard R16 Illya Marchenko 6-3 3-6 7-6(4)