Top seed Janko Tipsarevic is looking to better his runner-up finish in Moscow last year. Tipsarevic plays Dmitry Tursunov in Friday's quarter-finals.
Tipsarevic's hopes of qualifying for the ATP World Tour Finals were hindered by illness over the past fortnight but the Serb is fighting fit again and determined to give himself every chance of qualifying. He began well, taking down 2008 champion Igor Kunitsyn 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-0 on Thursday in just under two hours.
"I am very motivated to do well in these last few tournaments in order to try and finish in the Top 10 and maybe qualify for London," he said. "I was sick in the last two weeks and had not played a match for nine days. The first match at a tournament is always tough so I am happy I could finish very strong."
However this is a tough clash for him as Tursunov leads 2-1 on their head-to-head and won 7-6(6), 6-7(3), 7-5 when they met in Tokyo a couple of weeks ago.
The Russian was playing challengers at the start of the year but he's bounced back strongly and is currently ranked 40 in the world. He overcame France's Julien Benneteau 6-3, 7-6(1) in the second round.
Prediction: Tipsarevic in three.
