Top Two Davydenko, Hrbaty Exit at ATP Moscow
Posted on October 13, 2005The Kremlin Cup lost its Top 2 seeds Wednesday when Italian Daniele Bracciali ousted Russian top seed Nikolay Davydenko from a set down, and Frenchman Cyril Saulnier likewise defeated No. 2 seed Dominik Hrbaty in three.
"It's a great feeling to beat a Top 10 player for the first time in my career, on top of it he was the defending champion playing at home," Bracciali said. "The match was very close, every game was hard fought. In the second and third sets I served better and was able to break him when he made a couple of mistakes."
Davydenko attributed the three-set loss to injury.
"I've got some problems with my shoulder, I felt pain for the first time in Metz last week," Davydenko said. "I started out very good but at the beginning of the second set I had to slow down as the pain got worse...The next two Masters Series events in Madrid and Paris are very important as I want to win enough points to qualify for the Masters Cup in Shanghai."
Seeded winners Thursday were (3) Mikhail Youzhny (d. (Q) Dlouhy), (4) Max Mirnyi (d. (WC) Gabashvili from a set down), (5) Greg Rusedski (d. Llodra), (6) Nicholas Kiefer (d. Mayer), and (7) Igor Andreev (d. Clement).
Russian qualifier Igor Kunitsyn also topped French veteran Fabrice Santoro in straight sets to move into the second round.
Scheduled for Thursday are (3) Youzhny vs. Goldstein, (5) Rusedski vs. (Q) Kunitsyn, (WC) Tursunov vs. (8) Volandri, Pavel vs. Saulnier, and Bracciali vs. Hernych.
"It's a great feeling to beat a Top 10 player for the first time in my career, on top of it he was the defending champion playing at home," Bracciali said. "The match was very close, every game was hard fought. In the second and third sets I served better and was able to break him when he made a couple of mistakes."
Davydenko attributed the three-set loss to injury.
"I've got some problems with my shoulder, I felt pain for the first time in Metz last week," Davydenko said. "I started out very good but at the beginning of the second set I had to slow down as the pain got worse...The next two Masters Series events in Madrid and Paris are very important as I want to win enough points to qualify for the Masters Cup in Shanghai."
Seeded winners Thursday were (3) Mikhail Youzhny (d. (Q) Dlouhy), (4) Max Mirnyi (d. (WC) Gabashvili from a set down), (5) Greg Rusedski (d. Llodra), (6) Nicholas Kiefer (d. Mayer), and (7) Igor Andreev (d. Clement).
Russian qualifier Igor Kunitsyn also topped French veteran Fabrice Santoro in straight sets to move into the second round.
Scheduled for Thursday are (3) Youzhny vs. Goldstein, (5) Rusedski vs. (Q) Kunitsyn, (WC) Tursunov vs. (8) Volandri, Pavel vs. Saulnier, and Bracciali vs. Hernych.