STARNBERG, August 14, 2020
When you have a look at the ATP Tour profile of Andrey Kuznetsov, the website will state “inactive”. The 29-year-old Russian hasn’t played on the professional circuit since losing in the opening round to Ilya Ivashka of Belarus at the Koblenz Open in January 2018. Kuznetsov struggled with injuries and was announced the coach of Russian tennis player Evgeny Donskoy last year.
Now he is ready to make a comeback. Kuznetsov, who clinched the 2009 Boys’ singles title at Wimbledon, used his protected ranking of World No. 130 to enter back-to-back ATP Challenger events in Prague, kicking off with the qualifying this Saturday.
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The right-hander has clinched seven ATP Challenger career titles and reached a career high ranking of World No. 39 in April 2016. Kuznetsov lifted his last trophy in Como, Italy in 2015.
Following the two tournaments in Prague, the Tula native plans to stay in the Czech Republic for another week, competing in the Prosperita Open in Ostrava. He clinched the title here four years ago. The ATP 125 Challenger Tour event with a total prize money of €132,280 is scheduled to take place from August 29 to September 6 at the SC Ostrava. Kuznetsov leads the entry list joined by top 150 players Henri Laaksonen from Switzerland, Ilya Ivashka, Zhizhen Zhang of China, Blaz Rola from Slovenia and South Korea’s Hyeon Chung.
The Prosperita Oopen will feature a 48-man-draw including five wild card entries and two qualifiers. The singles champion will earn €18,290 in prize money as well as 125 ATP Ranking points. Sixteen doubles teams will be in action. The winners will split €7,870 in prize money.
Properita Open Ostrava Entry List:
130 Kuznetsov, Andrey (RUS) PR
137 Laaksonen, Henri (SUI)
138 Ivashka, Ilya (BLR)
140 Zhang, Zhizhen (CHN)
141 Rola, Blaz (SLO)
142 Chung, Hyeon (KOR)
156 Istomin, Denis (UZB)
159 Klizan, Martin (SVK)
161 Rinderknech, Arthur (FRA)
162 Gulbis, Ernests (LAT)
165 Diez, Steven (CAN)
167 Clarke, Jay (GBR)
169 Stakhovsky, Sergiy (UKR)
170 Haase, Robin (NED)
171 Horansky, Filip (SVK)
172 Lacko, Lukas (SVK)
173 Van de Zandschulp, Botic (NED)
176 Popko, Dmitry (KAZ)
177 Schnur, Brayden (CAN)
178 Safiullin, Roman (RUS)
180 Rosol, Lukas (CZE)
184 Troicki, Viktor (SRB)
189 Molleker, Rudolf (GER)