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| Victor Hanescu © Gallo Images |
Wayne Odesnik of the United States battled back from a set down to produce the biggest upset at ATP Kremlin Cup in Moscow so far ousting second seed Victor Hanescu of Romania on Tuesday.
Hanescu, currently 31st in the ATP rankings, took the opening set in 47 minutes but his opponent refused to surrender and pulled the scores level at one set all after 90 minutes on court with a late break in the second.
The 23-year-old American, who is ranked 91st in the world, broke his rival's serve halfway into the deciding set and kept his lead through to win the set and their first ever head-to-head match in two hours 14 minutes.
"There were a lot of changes in the match," Odesnik said. "I was up a break twice in the first set but I kept fighting even if I lost it."
"I was mentally strong today and stayed with him the whole match. After I saved the match point at 4-5 on my serve in the second set, I felt he got a bit tired and down on himself and I was able to raise my game."
Another American Robby Ginepri, 92nd in the ATP rankings, saw off fourth seed Russian Igor Andreev, 2005 champion here, in a tough three-setter 6-3, 6-7 (9/11), 7-6 (7/1).
Sixth seed Serb Janko Tipsarevic and the local crowd's longstanding favourite Frenchman Fabrice Santoro, the seventh seed, both advanced into the second round beating Daniel Koellerer of Austria 6-4, 6-3 and Russian wildcard Andrey Kuznetsov 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 respectively.
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