10/6/08 9:00 AM | Jonathan Morgan
Moscow's opening round kicks off with a night match featuring Russian crowd favorite and World #19 Igor Andreev.
Andreev was born and still lives in Moscow, so this is a home tournament for him. He's played this event four times, having won it in '05 and making the quarterfinals on two other occasions.
Lu has had a career year in 2008, taking out Andy Murray in the Beijing Olympics and is currently at a career high ranking of 69.
That being said, Andreev should take this.
The Russian has a fine forehand and will use it as well as he can. He used it to take Roger Federer to five sets at the US Open and will use it to take out Lu here. It is not as clear cut as it may seem, however, as Lu is playing the best tennis of his career. Just last week he fought Fernando Gonzalez to three sets in a nice showing.
Andreev has played only the Davis Cup since his loss to Federer at the US Open; he lost in straights to both Juan Martin Del Potro and David Nalbandian. Whether these losses will affect him enough to where his game will be on the slide here in Moscow is still a question. Its likelihood, however, is remote.
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dsgsu, Jul 5, 2009 3:03 AM
Recordbreaks, Jul 5, 2009 3:00 AM
fan4tennis, Jul 5, 2009 2:48 AM
vamosrafa, Jul 5, 2009 2:38 AM
fan4tennis, Jul 5, 2009 12:22 AM
Recordbreaks, Jul 5, 2009 3:07 AM
fan4tennis, Jul 5, 2009 3:06 AM
tomnjerry2, Jun 21, 2009 3:37 PM
Yen-Hsun Lu
Igor Andreev
Kremlin Cup