Round 1 Madrid

Marat had a tough first round: Ivo Karlovic, who won his 3rd title last week in Stockholm, Sweden. Marat did his best, but is just not fit enough for these players. And with 17 aces and 72% as first serve in, it's hard to beat someone like that if you feel low yourself. The match took less than an hour and Marat lost with: 36 46. Better next time Marat! Keep your chin up! But unfortunatley this loss is really bad (worser than other losses) because he had to defend a lot of points here (last year he reached the quarters) so this is pretty bad for his ranking. He's now nr. 36 of the world, but because of his loss yesterday... it won't get any better!

Now a bit optimistic news: Marat asked for a Wild Card (WC) for St. Petersburg, which is from 22 October till the 28th. Hopefully he can get that one! More coming soon.