No. 1 Davydenko wins at Kremlin Cup in Moscow; Birthday boy Ginepri also wins

Defending champion and No. 1 seed Nikolay Davydenko (pictured) won his opening round match on Tuesday at the ATP Kremlin Cup in Moscow and helped his cause to earn one of the final four spots available for the year-end Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai. Birthday boy Robby Ginepri, as well as Dudi Sela of Israel also advanced to the second round after hard fought victories.

Davydenko easily defeated Frenchman Florent Serra, 6-1, 7-5, to set up a second round showdown with Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. Davydenko fired six aces, while winning 65 percent of his first serve points and only losing six points on his second serve throughout the match. The Russian star was able to break serve on three of seven chances without surrendering his serve despite Serra having four opportunities. After the win today, Davydenko now owns a 16-2 record in Moscow having won the title here in 2004, 2006 and 2007. He improves his 2008 record to 48-16, which has been highlighted by titles in Poertschach, Warsaw and at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami. Currently ranked No. 5 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings, the Russian is looking to win his 15th career title.

Ginepri, who turned 26 today, easily dispatched Czech qualifier Jiri Vanek, 6-3, 6-4, in 62 minutes, to set up a second round match against either No. 5 seed Dmitry Tursunov or Igor Kunitsyn. Despite the American smashing only five aces compared to Vanek’s 11 aces, Ginepri lost only four points on his first serve. Ginepri was also able to convert on two of five break point chances, without giving Vanek any service break opportunities. Ginepri improves to 22-16 on the season, which includes semifinal appearances in Delray Beach, San Jose and Las Vegas.

“It's great to get off to a good start here this week," said Ginepri. "I haven't played since the US Open, so I wasn't really sure where my game was going to be, but I'm happy with the way I played. It's a good start, and hopefully I can keep it going. It's definitely nice to get the win on my birthday, I think I was 0-2 before on my birthday.”

Sela, a Tel Aviv resident, survived against Victor Hanescu, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, in 95 minutes to advance to the second round. Sela, who earlier this fall reached the finals of the China Open in Beijing to become the first Israel citizen to reach an ATP level final since 2001, improved to 17-22 on the year. He will next face either No. 4 seed Paul-Henri Mathieu or Sergiy Stakhovsky for a place in the quarterfinals.

No. 8 seed Janko Tipsarevic, Julien Benneteau, Viktor Troicki and qualifier Denis Istomin were also winners on Tuesday in Moscow. Tipsarevic cracked 12 aces en route to a, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(6), victory over Russian wild card entrant Alexandre Kudryavtsev. Benneteau smashed nine aces and broke serve on three occasions to oust Israeli qualifier Harel Levy, 6-4, 6-3. A finalist in Washington this summer, rising Serbian star Troicki easily beat Russian wild card entrant Evgeny Donskoy, 6-1, 6-3, in 50 minutes. Istomin shocked No. 6 seed Michael Llodra of France, 7-6(2), 6-3, in just under an hour and a half. Istomin next meets French veteran Fabrice Santoro in the second round.