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| Safin
seeks revenge for Moscow |
First
round at Milan Indoors features a meeting between No. 1 seed
and New Balls Please star Marat Safin battling Germany's David
Prinosil, unseeded in Milan
. Their contest may prove one of revenge as Safin will seek
to even the score against Prinosil in a rematch of the Kremlin
Cup, where Prinosil shocked the Russian star in the Moscow semifinal.
Though Safin maintains a 3-1 career advantage over the German,
Prinsoil's win denied the Moscow fans of an all-Russian showdown
between Safin, and Yevgeny Kafelnikov, now a four-time winner
of the event.
Safin leads Prinosil 3-1
In Milan, Safin, who won seven titles last year en route to
a No. 2 finish in the inaugural ATP Champions Race, will seek
his first victory of the new year. His first tournament appearance
of the year, at the Australian Open where he was No. 2 seed,
was cut short when he was ousted in the third round by Slovakian
Dominik 'the Dominator' Hrbaty.
If Safin can make good on an early disposal of Prinosil, a possible
semifinal rematch against 'the Dominator', seeded third in Milan,
lies in wait for the Russian star.
27-year-old Prinosil, holder of three titles, likewise had his
Australian Open campaign suffer an early dismissal when he was
forced to retire during the third round. Heat exhaustion due
to the roaring temperatures on court in Melbourne forced the
blonde German to abandon the second set and concede defeat to
eventual champion Andre Agassi.
Munich residing Prinosil has not had a good start to the year.
Prior to the Australian Open he failed to make it past round
one in both Doha and Sydney. 2000 saw Prinosil finish the year
in the No. 37 position on the ATP Champions Race and earn his
third title, in Halle.
With both players vying for success at the beginning of the
year, the fans in Milan could be in for a fierce contest.
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