Two-time St. Petersburg champion Marat Safin, No. 2 seed Victor Hanescu of Romania, qualifier Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine and Russian Igor Kunitsyn are looking to add another ATP World Tour title to their personal collection this weekend. The other quarter-finalists: Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan, Bjorn Phau of Germany, No. 8 seed Horacio Zeballos of Argentina and Ernests Gulbis of Latvia, are all looking to reach their first career ATP World Tour final. In the first singles match, Phau and Stakhovsky battle it out followed by Zeballos and Gulbis. In the evening session, Istomin and Safin meet followed by Kunitsyn and Hanescu. All four matches are first-time meetings on the ATP World Tour.
     
FRIDAY QUARTER-FINAL HEAD-TO-HEADS – In Order of Play

Bjorn Phau (GER) vs (Q) Sergiy Stakhovsky (UKR) First ATP Meeting
Other Meetings:
08 Dnepropetrovsk CH (Ukraine) Hard R32 Sergiy Stakhovsky 4-6 6-4 6-3

Phau FastFacts:
2009 Highlights:
SF: Houston (l Odesnik); QF: Chennai (l Schuettler)
YTD W-L: 12-16
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 0
Date of Birth: October 4, 1979
South African Airways 2009 ATP Ranking: 110

• Phau, 30, is making his first quarter-final appearance in St. Petersburg…He has posted a 63 62 win over Russian wild card Stanislav Vovk and 64 2-1 ret. victory over Karol Beck this week
• His best ATP World Tour result of the year was the semi-finals in Houston on clay in April when he lost to American Wayne Odesnik… His best hard court result came in the first week of the campaign in Chennai as he reached the quarter-finals, losing to countryman Rainer Schuettler
• He enters the quarter-finals with a 12-16 match record on the season, 8-8 on hard courts
• He reached a career-high No. 59 on June 19, 2006
• He has been coached by Klaus Langenbach (since 1997)

Stakhovsky FastFacts:
2009 Highlights:
QF: Doha (l Murray); Zagreb (l Troicki); Moscow (l Youzhny)
YTD W-L: 13-14
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 1
Date of Birth: January 6, 1986
South African Airways 2009 ATP Ranking: 93

• Stakhovsky, 23,  the top player from Ukraine at No. 93 in the South African Airways 2009 ATP Rankings, is appearing in his second straight ATP World Tour quarter-final and fourth on the season
• The qualifier for the second straight week defeated No. 6 seed Evgeny Korolev 64 63 in the first round and Russian wild card Anrdrey Kuznetsov 61 64 in the second round
• Last week in Moscow he reached the quarter-finals, falling to eventual champion Mikhail Youzhny
• He has a 13-14 record in ATP World Tour level play this season (10-8 on hard courts) and 15-12 in Challenger action, reaching the final in Mons earlier this month (l. Tipsarevic)
• His only other ATP World Tour semi-final (or better) came in February 2008 in Zagreb where he captured his first ATP World Tour title (d. Ljubicic) to become the first lucky loser to win a tour title since Christian Miniussi in 1991…He achieved a career-high ranking of No. 74 on Nov. 17, 2008
• He started the year by reaching the quarter-finals in Doha with wins over C. Rochus and Peya before falling to eventual champion and World No. 4 Andy Murray...Then advanced to the quarter-finals at Zagreb in February with wins over Hrbaty and Karlovic before bowing out to Troicki

(8) Horacio Zeballos (ARG) vs Ernests Gulbis (LAT)  First Meeting

Zeballos FastFacts:
2009 Highlights:
YTD W-L: 3-3
Career Titles: 0
Date of Birth: April 27, 1985
South African Airways 2009 ATP Ranking: 54

• Zeballos, 24, is appearing in his first career ATP World Tour quarter-final after a 76(9) 63 win over qualifier Yuri Schukin and 63 61 victory over another qualifier, Oleksandr Dolgopolov Jr.
• This is the Argentine’s fourth career ATP World Tour level tournament, all coming this year…His previous win came over Michael Berrer at the US Open where he qualified…He then lost to No. 18 Tomas Berdych in four sets in the next round
• He has put together his best season as a pro, compiling a 48-14 match record and winning five titles on the Challenger circuit…He has climbed from No. 209 at the end of last year to a career-high No. 54 this week
• The Argentine captured all five titles in South America (two in Colombia and one each in Ecuador, Brazil and his native country)

Gulbis FastFacts:
2009 Highlights:
QF: Tokyo (l Tsonga)
YTD W-L: 20-25
Career Titles: 0
Date of Birth: August 30, 1988
South African Airways 2009 ATP Ranking: 100

• Gulbis, 21, is appearing in his second ATP World Tour quarter-final of the year after beating German Florian Mayer 63 76(3) and No. 4 seed Jeremy Chardy 76(7) 63
• Three weeks ago he advanced to the quarters in Tokyo with wins over No. 6 seed Radek Stepanek and Juan Monaco before losing to eventual champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
• This is the Latvian native’s third quarter-final or better in St. Petersburg in four years (8-3 record)…In 2006, he made his ATP World Tour debut and advanced to the semi-finals (l. to Ancic) and the following year he was a quarter-finalist (l. to Cilic)…His only other ATP SF came here three years ago
• He comes in with an 20-25 match record on the season, including 14-17 on hard courts
• He is working with former ATP World Tour pro Hernan Gumy of Argentina (began last month), who used to coach Marat Safin

Denis Istomin (UZB) vs Marat Safin (RUS)    First Meeting

Istomin FastFacts:
2009 Highlights:
QF: Eastbourne (l Tursunov)
YTD W-L: 16-17
Career Titles: 0
Date of Birth: September 7, 1986
South African Airways 2009 ATP Ranking: 101

• Istomin, 23, the top player from Uzbekistan on the ATP World Tour, is appearing in his second ATP World Tour quarter-final of the season…He opened with a 64 64 win over German Rainer Schuettler in his tournament debut and followed with a 62 2-1 retired (back) victory over top seed Mikhail Youzhny
• In June he advanced to his first ATP World Tour quarter-final in Eastbourne (l. to eventual champion Tursunov)
• He comes in with a 16-17 match record on the season, including 9-12 on hard courts…He is also 13-10 in Challenger play…He is playing in his sixth tournament in as many weeks…On Oct. 18 he reached the final at the Tashkent Challenger on home soil, losing to Marcos Baghdatis
• He broke into Top 100 on Feb. 16 at No. 98 and reached a career-high No. 57 on July 27 but has dropped outside Top 100 after failing to defend his points won with back-to-back challenger titles in August 2008
• He became the first man from his country to reach the third round of a Grand Slam at the US Open (d. Evans, N. Lapentti, l. to Cilic)

Safin FastFacts:
2009 Highlights:
QF: Los Angeles (l Haas); Beijing (l Nadal)
YTD W-L: 17-20
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 15
Date of Birth: January 27, 1980
South African Airways 2009 ATP Ranking: 77

• Safin, 29, improved to 19-5 lifetime in St. Petersburg with a 63 0-1 retired (knee) win over countryman and No. 5 seed Igor Andreev…In the first round he beat Frenchman Richard Gasquet 76(5) 64 win…He won two of his 15 career titles in St. Petersburg in 2000 and 2001
• He is appearing in his third ATP World Tour quarter-final of the season..Three weeks ago in Beijing, he defeated  No. 12 Fernando Gonzalez before falling to No. 2 Nadal …In late July he advanced to the quarter-finals in Los Angeles (l. to Haas)
• His last semi-final came in Moscow in October 2008 when he went on to reach the final (l. to Kunitsyn)
• The Russian, who is planning to retire at the end of the season, enters with a 17-20 match record (14-13 on hard) in 2009…Last week in Moscow he beat No. 6-ranked Nikolay Davydenko in the first round   before losing in the next round to countryman Evgeny Korolev
• He has a 15-12 career record in finals with his last title coming at the Australian Open in 2005 (d. Hewitt)…His last final came in Moscow last October (l. to Kunitsyn)
• He held the No. 1 ranking almost nine years ago on Nov. 20, 2000 – two months after winning the first of two Grand Slam titles at the US Open

Igor Kunitsyn (RUS) vs (2) Victor Hanescu (ROU) First ATP Meeting
Other Meetings:
01 Budapest CH (Hungary) Clay R16 Victor Hanescu 7-5 6-4

Kunitsyn FastFacts:
2009 Highlights:
QF: Memphis (l Sela)
YTD W-L: 15-29
Career Titles: 1
Date of Birth: September 30, 1981
South African Airways 2009 ATP Ranking: 103

• Kunitsyn, 28, is appearing in his second ATP World Tour quarter-final of the season, the first since February in Memphis (d. Andreev, Petzschner, l. to Sela in three sets)…He opened the tournament Wednesday with a 64 63 win over No. 7 seed Pablo Cuevas and followed with a 62 63 victory over Russian wild card Mikhail Kukushkin…He is making his seventh appearance in St. Petersburg (5-6 record) and his best result was the semi-finals three years ago (l. to T. Johansson)
• He enters with a 15-29 match record on the season (12-20 on hard courts)…This is the only second tournament he's won back-to-back matches…Before this week he lost in the first or second round in his past 23 tournaments
• Last year’s Kremlin Cup champion (d. Safin) reached a career-high No. 35 on July 6 in the South African Airways 2009 ATP Rankings and this week is No. 103

Hanescu FastFacts:
2009 Highlights:
F: Stuttgart (l Chardy); QF: Doha (l Roddick); Casablanca (l Ferrero); Kitzbühel (l Garcia-Lopez); Hamburg (l Davydenko)
YTD W-L: 27-30
Career Titles: 1
Date of Birth: July 21, 1981
South African Airways 2009 ATP Ranking: 37

• Hanescu, 28, is trying to reach his second straight semi-final in St. Petersburg…Last year he lost to qualifier Andrey Golubev…Has a 6-2 career mark
• The top Romanian enters with a 27-30 match record on the season (10-15 on hard) and his best result
came in July when he reached the final in Stuttgart (l. to Chardy)…Also a quarter-finalist in four other tournaments – Doha, Casablanca, Kitzbuehel and Hamburg, the later three on clay
• He reached a career-high No. 26 on July 6 and came in this week ranked No. 37