Viktor Troicki takes on Spain's Pere Riba in the opening round of the Kremlin Cup on Wednesday.
Troicki has established himself in the world's top 20 this year and until a few weeks ago he still had an outside shot at reaching the ATP World Tour Finals but the Serb has seen those hopes evaporate with successive first round defeats in Tokyo and Shanghai.
After going out to two of the tour's most promising young prospects in Bernard Tomic and Ryan Harrison, he will be relieved that there are no teenagers in his section of the draw this week.
Troicki is defending his title here in Moscow having broken his duck on the tour this time last year with a superb run, defeating Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the second round before seeing off Marcos Baghdatis in three sets in the final.
He should have few problems against clay-court specialist Riba who has competed virtually exclusively on the dirt all year and rarely plays more than a handful of matches indoors each year.
Prediction: Troicki in two.
