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Safin strikes early

Safin strikes early

22/10/2009 7:42 AM

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Marat Safin opened his final Kremlin Cup campaign by ousting defending champion Nikolay Davydenko in the first round in Moscow.

Safin was runner-up in last year's final, and he came from a set down to win 4-6 6-4 6-2 and end Davydenko's bid for a fourth title in the Russian capital.

Safin, 29, who retires at the end of the season, produced 10 aces and a better all-round game against his 28-year-old opponent to win in a little under two hours.

Also through into the second round were Evgeny Korolev who beat fellow Russian Igor Kunitsyn 7-6 (8-6) 6-3 while qualifier Illya Marchenko was 4-1 up in the deciding set when Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin retired with a throat infection to seal a 1-6 6-4 4-1 result.

Russian third seed Mikhail Youzhny thrashed Potito Starace of Italy 6-1 6-1 in less than an hour, producing a superb service performance to reach the third round.

Pablo Cuevas, the fifth seed, had a tougher match but prevailed 3-6 6-1 6-4 against Teimuraz Gabashvili.

However, seventh seed Fabrice Santoro crashed out in straight sets to qualifier Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine.

Stakhovsky hit 11 aces and produced a far more incisive game to win 7-5 6-1 to overcome a deficit of 60 ranking places.

Meanwhile, top seed Robin Soderling enjoyed a smooth passage into the second round of the Stockholm Open.

Swede Soderling, a French Open finalist earlier this season, delighted the home crowd with a 6-3 6-0 win over Ecuador's Giovanni Lapentti.

Germany's Tommy Haas was also a comfortable winner, taking 55 minutes to ease past France's Florent Serra with a 6-3 6-4 victory, firing down 17 aces in the process.

In-form Marcos Baghdatis continued his comeback from injury with a 6-4 6-2 win over third seed Juan Carlos Ferrero.

Baghdatis, who has won three Challenger titles recently - including in Tashkent last week - created four breaks of serve and fired down 13 aces against the former French Open champion.

Feliciano Lopez beat Ernests Gulbis in straight sets while, in second-round action, there were also wins for Lopez's fellow Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, who saw off Germany's Simon Greul, and Brazil's Thomaz Bellucci.

Bellucci beat Argentina's Leonardo Mayer 7-5 3-6 6-3.

 
Photograph Copyright : Getty Images

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