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10/26/09 2:24 AM | Ricky Dimon
A modest draw in St. Petersburg should give Mikhail Youzhny--if he isn't too tired--a great chance of winning his second title in as many weeks. Youzhny, who just triumphed in Moscow, headlines the field as the No. 1 seed.
Mikhail Youzhny will be aiming for an ATP title in back-to-back weeks--both in Russia--as he heads from Moscow to St. Petersburg this week. Youzhny, Moscow's No. 3 seed, overcame Janko Tipsarevic in three sets on Sunday to capture the Kremlin Cup.
While Youzhny has to be feeling the effects of a long but productive week, there is good news yet for the in-form Russian. He should get two full days off before he begins in St. Petersburg (presumably on Wednesday), and he is also the No. 1 seed in an otherwise benign field. Youzhny, the 2004 champion of this event, also should not encounter any real trouble until much later in the week.
There are two former St. Petersburg title winners in this season's field; Youzhny and countryman Marat Safin, the soon-to-be-retired former world No. 1. Like Youzhny, Safin (winner in 2000 and 2001) is also in a top half of the draw that is far more difficult than the bottom. Safin has to open against Richard Gasquet, and the winner of that could run into Youzhny in the quarterfinals. Potential semifinal opponents coming out of the second quarter of the bracket are in-form players Viktor Troicki and Evgeny Korolev.
The bottom section, meanwhile, is there for the taking. Victor Hanescu is Moscow's No. 2 seed and he began on Sunday with a straight-set win over Teimuraz Gabashivili, but the 6'6'' Romanian has generally been in dreadful form of late. Jeremy Chardy is seeded third and is probably considered to be the favorite to reach the St. Petersburg final out of the bottom part of the bracket. Also looking to contend are Robby Ginepri, Ernests Gulbis (a first-round winner at the expense of Florian Mayer), Ilya Marchenko, and Mikhail Kukushkin.
Marchenko and Kukushkin are ranked way too low for direct entry, but they both earned special exemptions thanks to semifinal runs in Moscow. Kukushkin finally succumbed to Youzhny, the eventual champion, while Marchenko's amazing week was ended by Tipsarevic, the eventual runner-up.
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