St Peteresburg Open 2005

[raghda]

(5) Kiefer (GER)
vs.
Vik (CZE)

I really supperted Misha

[Annie]

RUSSIAN PLAYERS LEAVE ST.PETERSBURG OPEN-2005


Fernando Verdasco (Spain), Thomas Johansson (Sweden), Robin Vik (the Czech Republic) and Nicolas Kiefer of Germany got to the St. Petersburg Open-2005 final.

At 2 pm the Central Court of the St. Petersburg Sports Centre hosted the match between eighth seeded Fernando Verdasco of Spain and Kenneth Carlsen of Denmark. In the first game Verdasco made only one break but it was enough for him to grasp the advantage and lead the set to 6:4. In the second set Carlsen lost the serve and was forced to make up lost ground during the next three games. Although he managed to make a break and tie at 2:2, it was evident that he was exhausted. In the fifth game Verdasco broke the serve and gained the lead. Finally, he claimed the match 6:4, 6:2, and moved to his second semifinal in 2005.

Tournament’s #2 Thomas Johansson of Sweden defeated Greg Rusedski of Great Britain in a 2-set match. Making two breaks he easily claimed the first set 6:2. However, in the next set Rusedski managed to level off, and lead a more careful game advancing to the net. At 5:5 on the scoreboard Johansson stepped up the match and made, as it then seemed, the decisive break. However, in the next game Rusedski did not allow Johansson to fight off the match point and tied the score. At the tiebreaker Johansson was stronger taking advantage of a number of Rusedski’s unforced errors.

The St. Petersburg Open defending champion, tournament’s #4, Mikhail Youzhny lost his quarterfinal match to the Czech Robin Vik. Despite his excellent performance in the first set (6:1), he almost stopped in the second one due to a serious back injury. Vik in his turn became more aggressive and led the set to 6:4. After urgent medical treatment Youzhny fought with might and main making the first break. But it was clear in the next game that the injury hindered Youzhny’s movements. Finally, Vik claimed a 6:2 victory in the decisive set.

In the last quarterfinal match Nicolas Kiefer of Germany upset the tournament’s #1 Nikolay Davydenko taking less than one hour to move into the semifinal. Kiefer’s dominance was evident, he played fast and aggressive tennis with excellent passing shots and drop-volleys. He easily broke in the first set and won 6:1. In the second set his power serves forced Davydenko to do errors. In the second set the Russian player had the only chance to gain the lead but Kiefer easily won the double breakpoint and retained the serve posting a 6:1, 6:1 victory.

Among doubles tandems, Johas Bjorkman (Sweden)/Max Mirnyi (Belarus) got to the semifinal defeating the duet of Tomas Johansson (Sweden)/Robby Koenig (ZAF).



Russians are all injured...it's like everyone's been jinxed or something...Marat, Misha, Kolya, Igor..everyone!!!

[SAFINNO1]

Annie what can i say except WTF happened. I left here Misha winning 4-1 in 2nd and i see he lost. I was so shocked. What happened did he have problems wih his back or something.
As for Koyla a bit surprised he lost by that margain but i dont think he was up to the challenge.
I cant believe my 3 players for the tournie all got knocked out in 1 day.
Tennis is a funny old game

[SAFINNO1]

Annie ,i cant believe they are all injured luckily we never made it to the DC final, could you imagine that apart from Dima and possibly(not so much) Kunitsyn.
According to misha he will pull out of Bercy so this is Misha finished for the season. Rest up and prepare for AO 2006

WHAT THE PLAYERS SAID:

Vik: “This is for sure the best result in my life. He got injured and that helped me a little bit today, since he won the first set so clearly. I feel great, I was a little bit nervous at the end, but now I'm just very happy.”

Youzhny: “The support from the fans helped me, even if I lost. It's a pity that I couldn't dictate the match in the end. I hoped for a miracle to happen, but unfortunately it didn't happen.”

About his back injury: “I've been suffering from the same injury for five years. Now I will have to take some time off, I will not play in Paris and hopefully be back in better shape at the beginning of next year.”

Davydenko: “I don't know why I played that way, I never really got into the match. Kiefer didn't give me the chance to get into the game, he was playing extremely fast.”

On eventually playing the Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai: “ I'll go to Paris and I will try to win a few matches there. If I succeed in doing that, I'll definitely go to Shanghai and fight very hard to win matches there.”

Kiefer: “I got a strong start today and I feel very comfortable with the way I played. I'm very pleased with my game right now.”

On having lost in the final in Moscow against Andreev: “It was a bad loss there. The whole final was great tennis. Hopefully I'll play well tomorrow again and go to the final once again.”

[SAFINNO1]

Kieferv johannson final if any1 crares
johanson won in straight sets, Russia not a good final place for Mr. Kiefer

[blue]

Kiefer is a real headcase

[Annie]

lol poor Kiefer...one unlucky country for him..2 finals and lost both

[SAFINNO1]

2 lost finals within 3 weeks or so thats cruel

So i take it marat did not come to russia's second city this week

[Annie]

doesn't look like it at all....I suppose he's finally fed up of all the "duties" and decided to get the heck out of Moscow at last....I hope he's outta here.....he needs a change of scenery

[marats]

It's even more terrible.....Kiefer plays nine finals in a
row and lost them all !!!!
So Sorry Nicolas !!!

[SAFINNO1]

9 finals. OMG he should easily have qualified for shaghai if he has won some of them.
He was also the only player to take a set of Roger at wimbledon, and to make you think he beat marat in dubai