Seeded Russians
Nikolay Davydenko,
Mikhail Youzhny and
Dmitry Tursunov will try and protect the home turf this week at the St. Petersburg Open, joined in the field by unseeded Russians (WC) Michael Elgin,
Teimuraz Gabashvili, Evgeny Korolev,
Igor Kunitsyn and (WC) Pavel Chekhov.
Other seeded players are Brit
Andy Murray, Italian
Potito Starace, Spaniard
Fernando Verdasco, German
Philipp Kohlschreiber, and Swede
Thomas Johansson.
Marat Safin is skipping the event after calling an early end to his season.
Davydenko opens against Italian
Filippo Volandri, while the No. 2-seeded Murray will have a tester against the big-serving Max "The Beast" Mirnyi.
Other notables in the draw are former Olympic gold medalist
Nicolas Massu, Swedish veteran
Jonas Bjorkman, the back-from-injury
Mario Ancic, and the retiring
Justin Gimelstob.
Ancic is the defending champion at St. Petersburg, last year as the No. 3 seed topping Johansson 7-5, 7-6(2).
