Defending Champ Kuznetsova, Djokovic-Killer Bautista Agut Lead Next Week at Kremlin Cup

No Maria Sharapova in Russia as the former No. 1 remains sidelined for doping until April 2017, but Russian fans still get defending champion and former world No. 2 Svetlana Kuznetsova, and on the men’s side Roberto Bautusta-Agut who upset world No. 1 Novak Djokovic today in the semifinals at Shanghai.

Here’s a look at the women’s and men’s fields in Moscow:

KREMLIN CUP
Moscow, Russia; Surface: hard
ADHEREL
Women’s Seeds: Svetlana Kuznetsova, Dominika Cibulkova, Carla Suarez Navarro, Elina Svitolina, Elena Vesnina, Barbora Strycova, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Daria Kasatkina

Women’s Floaters: Alize Cornet, Irina-Camelia Begu, Belinda Bencic, Ekaterina Makarova, Jelena Jankovic, Lucie Safarova, Daria Gavrilova

Women’s Notes: Two Top 10 seeds in the field in Kuznetsova, who took a wildcard, and Cibulkova…Half the seeds are Russian…High-profile Russian Maria Sharapova misses this event due to her doping suspension…The Top 4 seeds receive opening-round byes…Lots of dangerous floaters and tough starts for (1) Kuznetsova vs. the upset specialist Cornet, (5) Vesnina vs. Begu, (8) Kasatkina vs. Bencic, and (2) Cibulkova starting against the winner of Lucie Safarova/Daria Gavrilova…In addition to Kuznetsova a wildcard was awarded to Russian Anna Kalinskaya…Pulling out of the event were former French finalist Sara Errani, former US Open finalist Karolina Pliskova, and Olympic gold medalist Monica Puig…Kuznetsova is the defending champ, in last year’s all-Russian final beating Pavlyuchenkova…Former champs in the field are Kuznetsova (2015), Pavlyuchenkova (2014), Cibulkova (2011), and Jankovic (2008).

Men’s Seeds: Roberto Bautista Agut, Albert Ramos-Vinolas, Philipp Kohlschreiber, Viktor Troicki, Martin Klizan, Pablo Carreno Busta, Paolo Lorenzi, Andrey Kuznetsov

Men’s Floaters: Lukas Rosol, Fabio Fognini

Men’s Notes: The No. 19 top-seeded Bautusta Agut the only Top 20 player in the field…The Top 4 seeds receive opening-round byes…Few floaters or tough opening-round match-ups…Janko Tipsarevic meets Dusan Lajovic in an all-Serb 1st round with the winner meeting (3) Kohlschreiber…Bautista Agut upset world No. 1 Novak Djokovic last week in Shanghai..Wildcards were awarded to Turkey’s Cem Ilkel and Russians Karen Khachanov and Konstantin Kravchuk…Bernard Tomic and Jiri Vesely withdrew from the event…Bautista Agut lost to Marin Cilic in last year’s final for the second year in a row…Tipsarevic (2011) and Troicki (2010) and former champs in the field as the two-time defending champ Cilic takes the week off.