Moscow, Russia (My Sportsbook) - Russian favorite Mikhail Youzhny was among Monday's opening-round winners at the $1.08 million Kremlin Cup tennis event. The third-seeded Youzhny got past Argentine Horacio Zeballos 6-1, 7-6 (7-5) on the indoor hardcourt at Olympic Stadium. Fifth-seeded Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay advanced with a 6-4, 6-2 decision over Taipei's Yen-Hsun Lu on Day 1. In other first-round play, Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili overcame Slovakian Karol Beck 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 and Italian Potito Starace stopped Russian wild card Evgeny Donskoy 6-3, 6-3. Igor Kunitsyn upset Marat Safin in last year's popular all-Russian final here. Both players are in the draw and unseeded this week. Safin will open up against top-seeded compatriot Nikolay Davydenko, who was last week's surprise titlist at the Shanghai Masters, where he stunned former top-ranked superstar Rafael Nadal in the finale. Davydenko captured this Moscow event in 2004, 2006 and 2007. The 2009 Moscow champ will collect $170,000. |
