The 16th edition of the St. Petersburg Open is led by top seed and 2004 champion Mikhail Youzhny, one of a tournament-high six Russians in the main draw (not including qualifiers). Youzhny, the last Russian to win the St. Petersburg title, is battling for one of the three remaining positions for the year-ending Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London.

The defending champion is No. 2 Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine. Last year Stakhovsky was a qualifier, defeating Argentine Horacio Zeballos in a third set tie-break. Other seeds are: No. 3 Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia, No. 4 Yen-Hsun Lu of Chinese Taipei, No. 5 Viktor Troicki of Serbia who captured his first ATP World Tour title in Moscow on Sunday. No. 6 Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan, No. 7 Jeremy Chardy of France and No. 8 Victor Hanescu of Romania round out the seeds.

On Monday’s schedule, there are four singles qualifying matches, three involving Russians, and three main draw singles matches.

In the first main draw match on Centre Court, Chardy and Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan meet in the first round for the second straight week. Last week in Moscow, Kukushkin won 6-2, 6-4.

The next match features Italian Filippo Volandri and Russian Teymuraz Gabashvili. Volandri won the previous meeting on the ATP World Tour in Rome in 2007 and in two other Italian Challengers, all on clay.

In the final match, wild card Igor Andreev looks to even his record (0-1) against American Michael Russell, who won the previous meeting in March this year at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Indian Wells.

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TOURNAMENT QUICK FACTS
CITY:   St. Petersburg, Russia
VENUE:  Sports Complex “Petersburgsky”
DATE:   October 25-31, 2010
CATEGORY:  ATP World Tour 250
PRIZE MONEY:  $ 750,000
DRAW:   32 singles / 16 doubles
SURFACE:  Hard
SINGLES FINAL:  Sunday, October 31, following doubles final 
DOUBLES FINAL: Sunday, October 31, at 2:00 p.m.
FIRST HELD:  1995
     
2009 FINALS
Singles – (Q) Sergiy Stakhovsky (UKR) d. (8) Horacio Zeballos (ARG) 2-6, 7-6(8), 7-6(7)
Doubles – Fleming-Skupski d. Chardy-Gasquet 2-6, 7-5, 10-4

RECENT CHAMPIONS/FINALISTS (since 2000)
2009 Sergiy Stakhovsky/Horacio Zeballos
2008 Andy Murray/Andrey Golubev
2007 Andy Murray/Fernando Verdasco 
2006 Mario Ancic/Thomas Johansson 
2005 Thomas Johansson/Nicolas Kiefer 
2004 Mikhail Youzhny/Karol Beck 
2003 Gustavo Kuerten/Sargis Sargsian 
2002 Sebastien Grosjean/Mikhail Youzhny 
2001 Marat Safin/Rainer Schuettler 
2000 Marat Safin/Dominik Hrbaty
*Bold denotes past champions / runners-up in 2010 draw

A LOOK AT THE DRAW
Singles: Player Record  Best Finish 
1 Mikhail Youzhny (RUS)    20-7 W-'04
2 Sergiy Stakhovsky (UKR)  6-2 W-'09
3 Janko Tipsarevic (SRB)    2-2 QF-'08
4 Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE)         Debut 
5 Viktor Troicki (SRB)        0-2 R32-'09,08
6 Denis Istomin (UZB)       2-1 QF-'09
7 Jeremy Chardy (FRA)     2-2 R16-'09,08
8 Victor Hanescu (ROU)     6-3 SF-'08

Wildcards: Igor Andreev, Andrey Kuznetsov, Dmitry Tursunov
Youngest: Andrey Kuznetsov (19 years, 7 months)
Oldest:  Rainer Schuettler (34 years, 6 months)
Top Country Breakdown: Russia 6, Germany 3, Italy 3, Ukraine 3, Argentina 2, France 2, Serbia 2
Former Champions in Draw (2): Sergiy Stakhovsky (2009), Mikhail Youzhny (2004)
Former Finalists in Draw (3): Horacio Zeballos (2009), Mikhail Youzhny (2002), Rainer Schuettler (2001)
* Does not include qualifiers

SOUTH AFRICAN AIRWAYS 2010 ATP RANKINGS POINTS / PRIZE MONEY 
Singles              W             F         SF        QF       R16      R32       
Rankings Pts.     250         150      90         45        20         0  
Prize Money     $113,600 59,900  32,430 18,500 10,880  6,450  
  
Doubles             W           F          SF        QF       R16
Rankings Pts.   250          150      90         45        0                    
Prize Money    $36,450  19,120 10,350   5,930   3,480 

Doubles Seeded Teams (Tournament record, best finish - year) 
1 Cermak / Mertinak  0-1 R16-‘09
2 Bopanna / Qureshi  Debut
3 Polasek / Zelenay    Debut
4 Lipsky / R. Ram      Debut

RECENT CHAMPIONS (since 2000)
2009 Colin Fleming/Ken Skupski
2008 Travis Parrott / Filip Polasek
2007 Daniel Nestor / Nenad Zimonjic
2006 Simon Aspelin / Todd Perry
2005 Julian Knowle / Jurgen Melzer
2004 Arnaud Clement / Michael Llodra
2003 Julian Knowle / Nenad Zimonjic
2002 David Adams / Jared Palmer
2001 Denis Golovanov / Yevgeny Kafelnikov
2000 Daniel Nestor / Kevin Ullyett
 *Bold denotes past champions in 2010 draw

ABOUT THE ATP WORLD TOUR
With 62 tournaments in 32 countries, the ATP World Tour showcases the finest male athletes competing in the world’s most exciting venues. From Australia to Europe and the Americas to Asia, the stars of the ATP World Tour battle for prestigious titles at Grand Slams (non ATP members), ATP World Tour Masters 1000, ATP World Tour 500 and ATP World Tour 250 events. At the end of the season the world’s top 8 ranked men’s singles players and top 8 doubles teams, based on their performance throughout the year, will qualify to compete in the season’s climax - the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. To be held at London’s O2 arena, the event will officially crown the 2010 ATP World Tour Champion and determine the final South African Airways 2010 ATP Rankings. For more information, please visit www.ATPWorldTour.com.

MONDAY FIRST ROUND HEAD-TO-HEADS – In Order of Play

(7) Jeremy Chardy (FRA) vs Mikhail Kukushkin (KAZ)    Kukushkin Leads 1-0
10 Moscow (Russia) Hard R32 Mikhail Kukushkin 6-2 6-4

Chardy FastFacts:
2010 Highlights:
QF: Delray Beach (l Fish); Gstaad (l Almagro); ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Canada (l Djokovic); Bucharest (l Montanes)
YTD W-L: 26-28
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 1
Date of Birth: February 12, 1987
South African Airways 2010 ATP Ranking: 50

Kukushkin FastFacts:
2010 Highlights:
QF: Bangkok (l Nadal)
YTD W-L: 12-8
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 0
Date of Birth: December 26, 1987
South African Airways 2010 ATP Ranking: 88

Filippo Volandri (ITA) vs Teymuraz Gabashvili (RUS) Volandri Leads 1-0
07 ATP Masters Series Rome (Italy) Clay R64 Filippo Volandri 6-0 6-3
Other Meetings:
08 Cordenons CH (Italy) Clay QF Filippo Volandri 7-6(4)1-6 6-1
10 Turin CH (Italy) Clay R16 Filippo Volandri 6-4 5-7 6-3

Volandri FastFacts:
2010 Highlights:
YTD W-L: 4-5
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 2
Date of Birth: September 5, 1981
South African Airways 2010 ATP Ranking: 90

Gabashvili FastFacts:
2010 Highlights:
QF: New Haven (l Istomin)
YTD W-L: 8-15
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 0
Date of Birth: May 23, 1985
South African Airways 2010 ATP Ranking: 105

(WC) Igor Andreev (RUS) vs Michael Russell (USA) Russell Leads 1-0
10 ATP Masters 1000 Indian Wells (USA) Hard R64 Michael Russell 4-6 6-3 6-2

Andreev FastFacts:
2010 Highlights:
SF: Costa Do Sauipe (l Kubot); Kuala Lumpur (l Youzhny); QF: Buenos Aires (l Ferrer); Belgrade (l Querrey); Gstaad (l Gimeno-Traver)
YTD W-L: 17-18
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 3
Date of Birth: July 14, 1983
South African Airways 2010 ATP Ranking: 81

Russell FastFacts:
2010 Highlights:
QF: San Jose (l Querrey); Atlanta (l Isner)
YTD W-L: 10-20
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 0
Date of Birth: May 1, 1978
South African Airways 2010 ATP Ranking: 87

OTHER FIRST ROUND HEAD-TO-HEADS * – To be played Tuesday & Wednesday

In Draw Order –

Mikhail Youzhny (RUS) vs Daniel Brands (GER)  Youzhny Leads 1-0
09 Munich (Germany) Clay SF Mikhail Youzhny 3-6 6-3 6-4

Horacio Zeballos (ARG) vs Victor Hanescu (ROU)   First Meeting

Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE) vs Potito Starace (ITA)   First Meeting

Dmitry Tursunov (RUS) vs Michal Przysiezny (POL)   First Meeting

Alexandr Dolgopolov (UKR) vs Fabio Fognini (ITA)  First ATP Meeting
Other Meeting:
07 San Remo CH (Italy) Clay QF Fabio Fognini 7-5 6-3

Rainer Schuettler (GER) vs Viktor Troicki (SRB)  Troicki Leads 3-1
07 Mumbai (India) Hard R16 Rainer Schuettler 6-2 6-7(4) 7-6(1)
09 ATP World Team Chp. (Düsseldorf) Clay F Viktor Troicki 6-4 7-6(5)
10 Zagreb (Croatia) Hard R32 Viktor Troicki 6-3 6-2
10 Dubai (U.A.E.) Hard R32 Viktor Troicki 6-3 6-4

Igor Kunitsyn (RUS) vs Janko Tipsarevic (SRB)   Kunitsyn Leads 1-0
06 Los Angeles (U.S.A.) Hard R32 Igor Kunitsyn 4-6 6-1 6-2
Other Meetings:
02 Bukhara CH (Uzbekistan) Hard R32 Janko Tipsarevic 4-6 6-2 6-4
03 Helsinki-2 CH (Finland) Hard R32 Igor Kunitsyn 2-6 6-1 7-6(2)

Denis Istomin (UZB) vs Illya Marchenko (UKR)   Istomin Leads 2-1
09 Moscow (Russia) Hard R32 Illya Marchenko 1-6 6-4 4-1 ret
10 Eastbourne (Great Britain) Grass QF Denis Istomin 6-1 6-4
10 Moscow (Russia) Hard R32 Denis Istomin 6-7(4) 6-2 6-2
Other Meetings:
07 Uzbekistan F1 (Uzbekistan) Hard SF Denis Istomin 4-6 7-6(4) 6-2
08 Bukhara CH (Uzbekistan) Hard F Denis Istomin 4-6 6-2 6-4
08 Astana CH (Kazakhstan) Hard R32 Denis Istomin 6-3 6-1
09 Astana CH (Kazakhstan) Hard R16 Illya Marchenko 6-3 3-6 7-6(4)

Maximo Gonzalez (ARG) vs Paul-Henri Mathieu (FRA)   First Meeting

Benjamin Becker (GER) vs Sergiy Stakhovsky (UKR)   First Meeting

* Does not include qualifiers