Top seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov, who has won the Kremlin Cup for the last four years, got his campaign for a fifth consecutive title underway with a comfortable straight sets dismissal of Russian countryman Mikhail Youzhny on Wednesday. However, Russian golden girl Anna Kournikova, dogged by a foot injury for most of the year, was unable to follow Kafelnikov's example when she suffered another first round defeat in the women's event.
Olympic champion Kafelnikov barely broke sweat as he handed out a one-hour masterclass to his 19-year-old opponent who was awarded a wild-card into the first round of this million dollar event. Kafelnikov, 27, a semi-finalist at the US Open this year, took a commanding 5-1 lead in the opening set before winning it 6-3.
In the second set, Yuzhny tightened his game, but Kafelnikov's greater experience told as he broke twice to win the set 6-3 and the match. Fifth-seeded Swede Thomas Johansson booked his place in ' the next round sweeping past Italy's Davide Sanguinetti winning in 6-2 6-3 in just 50 minutes.
Bureau Report