Russia takes lead against Italy

In the first match of the Blue Group, the merely 21-year old player, Evgeny Korolev, took the 1-0 lead for the Italian team by beating Andreas Seppi 6-4, 6-4. Korolev, who is ranked almost 70 places behind Seppi, thus justified the team captain’s, Shamil Tarpichev’s, trust in the team, although the team’s higher ranked fellow countrymen, Igor Andreev and Dmitry Turnunov, could not compete due to minor injuries. However, both intend to play for their country during the ARAG WORLD TEAM CUP. Dusseldorf (pps)