There's no Place Like Home - Kremlin Cup 2008

[Alya10]

Tournament Name: KREMLIN CUP
Date: 4th-12th October
Venue: Olympiskyi Stadium, Moscow, Russian Federation

Website:
In Russian: www.kremlincup.ru/
In English: www.kremlincup.ru/index_en.html

Qualifying draw: Friday, October 3, 9:00 p.m.
Main draw: Saturday, October 4, 1:00 p.m.
Doubles draw: Saturday, October 3, 6:00 p.m.

MAIN DRAW SINGLES

1 DAVYDENKO, Nikolay RUS vs SERRA, Florent FRA
DEVILDER, Nicolas FRA vs GARCIA-LOPEZ, Guillermo ESP
LEVY, Harel ISR (Q) vs BENNETEAU, Julien FRA
OKUN, Noam ISR (Q) vs 7 SAFIN, Marat RUS

3 YOUZHNY, Mikhail RUS vs GABASHVILI, Teimuraz RUS
ZVEREV, Mischa GER vs GREMELMAYR, Denis GER
TROICKI, Viktor SRB vs DONSKOY, Evgeny RUS
KUDRYAVTSEV, Alexandre RUS vs 8 TIPSAREVIC, Janko SRB

6 LLODRA, Michael FRA vs ISTOMIN, Denis UZB (Q)
SANTORO, Fabrice FRA vsSCHUKIN, Yuri KAZ
SELA, Dudi ISR vs HANESCU, Victor ROU
STAKHOVSKY, Sergiy UKR vs 4 MATHIEU, Paul-Henri FRA

5 TURSUNOV, Dmitry RUS vs KUNITSYN, Igor RUS
GINEPRI, Robby USA vs VANEK, Jiri CZE (Q)
STARACE, Potito ITA vs CHARDY, Jeremy FRA
LU, Yen-Hsun TPE vs 2 ANDREEV, Igor RUS


MAIN DRAW DOUBLES

(1)Kerr, Jordan (AUS)/ Murray, Andy (GBR) vs Youzhny Mikhail (RUS)/ Zverev Mischa (GER)
Huss, Stephen (AUS)/Hutchins, Ross (GBR) vs. Gabashvili, Teimuraz / Safin, Marat (RUS)
(3)Llodra, Michael/Santoro,Fabrice (FRA) vs. Chardy,Jeremy/Serra, Florent (FRA)
Tipsarevic, Janko/Troicki, Viktor (SRB) vs. Mertinak, Michal (SVK)/Zovko, Lovro (CRO)

(WC) Demekhine, Serguei/Kravchuk, Konstantin (RUS) vs. Stakhovsky, Sergiy (UKR)/Starace, Potito (ITA)
(WC) Donskoy, Evgeny (RUS)/Vovk,Stanislav (AUT) vs. (4) Kunitsyn, Igor/Tursunov, Dmitry (RUS)
Skoch, David (CZE)/Zelenay, Igor (SVK) vs. Moser, Frank (GER)/Sela, Dudi (ISR)
Gremelmayr, Denis (GER)/Lu, Yen-Hsun (TPE) vs. (2) Cermak, Frantisek (CZE)/Wassen, Rogier (NED)

[SAFINNO1]

Marat will fly back to Moscow to prepare for the Kremlion Cup which starts on the 6th October.
webby

[Annie]

Frensje arrives today and Annabel and Alya10 Friday ;D Girls just wanna have fun ;D Hopefully it will be as much fun as it always is ;D

[justsafin]

Oct 1, 2008 9:10:36 GMT 3 Annie said:

Frensje arrives today and Annabel and Alya10 Friday ;D Girls just wanna have fun ;D Hopefully it will be as much fun as it always is ;D

have a great time in Moscow, girls!!! ;D ;D

I am so envious!

Looking forward to your fan reports and yummy piccies.

[hellanvodka]

Oct 1, 2008 9:10:36 GMT 3 Annie said:

Frensje arrives today and Annabel and Alya10 Friday ;D Girls just wanna have fun ;D Hopefully it will be as much fun as it always is ;D

;D ;D ;D Have tons of fun ladies......!!! and for those are travelling, wish you a very safe and pleasant trip!!! Looks like I shall see you super star ladies on TV again (like always in DC, KC, Hamburg etc). Hats off Annie the host!!!!
Be kind to that particular Tatar dude!
Vamos girls and Davai Maratika! ;D ;D

[SAFINNO1]

Found on OS

Hi all,

Here's another article posted on sovsport.ru today about Kremlin Cup.

"Before all our russian tennis starts started gathering here a week before Kremlin Cup. So far only Igor Andreev, Marat Safin & Anna Chakvetadze arrived to practice in Olympijsky for the tournament that starts with qualifying rounds this week-end, and main rounds following Monday. The rest of russian players are still playing in other tournaments."

Then article points out again, that this year this tournament was going to have all 19 women from top 20 (all except Maria Sharapova)..Radwanska might miss it because her passport has expired, unless she'll be able to renew it quickly. Szavay withdrew because of some injury. Tsonga had to pull out from tournament in Tokyo because of "abs muscles injury", so his participation is under question too..

Here's the part about Marat (you are not going to thank me for this one, because it troubled me too)

"Marat, stop talking on a phone" - his practice partners call out to former #1 player. The finalist of Kremlin Cup 2006 practiced on Center Court with M. Ledovshikh for about 30 min., then was engrossed with phone conversation. He stepped out behind the base line, sat down right on a court, and talked till the rest of practice.

"I felt pain in my neck, & could not sleep at night" - complained Marat to the doctor of russian team.

Interviewer asked him: "So how did you run on court?"

Marat: "I don't know, I'm done till tomorrow - maybe it will be better.

I.: Marat, will you be able to play?

Marat: "How can I not? (smiling). Just don't torture me with questions. We'll talk at the tournament, okay?"

[SAFINNO1]

Marat will most likely face a tricky Eastern European in the first round as most of qualies are locals

Marat is with Gaba in Doubles and play Hutchins and Huss in first round

[SAFINNO1]

Oct 5, 2008 1:47:12 GMT 3 davis said:

Oct 4, 2008 20:03:54 GMT 3 SAFINNO1 said:

Marat will most likely face a tricky Eastern European in the first round as most of qualies are locals

So are the Eastern European players tricky because the only time you hear about them is during Kremlin Cup? ;D

LOL i wasnt singleing out the eastern europeans TBF Marat finds every opponent tricky and davis we will hear these players again - in St Petersburg LOL

Marat doesnt play at all on Monday - OOP
www.atptennis.com/en/common/TrackIt.asp?file=http://www.atptennis.com/1/posting/2008/438/op.pdf

Mitya won in Metz and Teddy won doubles in Tokyo
RUSSIAN DOMINANCE!!!!!!!!

[Annie]

OOP is out and no Mr. Safin for us tomorrow However the ladies already went to the stadium today and saw him leaving after his practice ;D We'll be back with more news on Tuesday

[Natasha]

lucky girls ^^^^ have fun

[maryb]

Mrs Annie (where have you been wummin, I've missed you!) - I will expect you and the Big Yin's harem to dispense adequate amounts of fairy dust over him. Ensure that he's focused on his game. Or else he's getting his erse skelped. I'm starting to get annoyed again ... Wimbles magic is rapidly diminishing and I'm getting twitchy ...

Looking forward to seeing lots of pics. Will SKY be showing his harem?

FG

PS Where has Mrs Fabregas been? I actually saw a clip of her hubby last night for the first time!

[jenhatter06]

May mucho fun times be had by all ;D

[Dina]

04.10.2008 The tennis players will extend a helping hand

On October 6, Monday a charity event “Extend a helping hand” will be held for seriously ill children. Tennis players, who participate in the tournament, will leave their handprints on a canvas, which will be set forth at the charity auction.
The auction, which will start at 10.00 and last the whole day, will be held by Charity Fund of Rescue for seriously ill children “Lifeline”. At earlier events of the Fund “helping hands” were extended by many famous people, including the Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.


Marat might be there....

[Natasha]

i cant wait for the reports

[SAFINNO1]

Okun, Noam 0-3 Safin, Marat

2004 Bangkok
Thailand Hard R32 Safin 6-2 6-3

2001 Lyon
France Carpet R16 Safin 6-3 6-4

2001 Tashkent
Uzbekistan Hard R32 Safin 6-4 6-2