No Favours From Kafelnikov As Russian Thrashes Doubles Partner

Paul Haarhuis was the man who helped Yevgeny Kafelnikov to win the final Grand Slam title of the Russian's career, but if the Dutchman expected a few favours from his former doubles partner in Sao Paulo on Thursday, he would have been disappointed.

Kafelnikov, who teamed with Haarhuis to win the French Open doubles title in 2002, thrashed his old mate 6-2, 6-3 at the Grand Champions Brasil.

The former World Number One, who returned to tennis by joining the ATP Champions Tour in 2008, showed off his much improved form and fitness, nimbly moving around the baseline and hitting some trademark scorching backhand winners.

It means that Kafelnikov could face Thomas Enqvist in the final on Sunday - a repeat of their 1999 Australian Open clash, which the Russian won. Enqvist kicked off the defense of his first ever ATP Champions Tour title in impressive fashion by defeating Brazilian Jaime Oncins 6-3, 7-5, and would love to get revenge against Kafelnikov.

“Yevgeny and I have had so many great matches in the past including that one in the final in Melbourne,” he said. “It’s always a pleasure to play him and I would love to have another opportunity to play him this week so fingers crossed the results work out that way.”

In 2009, the Swede was a newcomer to the ATP Champions Tour. After sweeping through his group stage matches on his debut in Sao Paulo last year, the Swede eventually defeated Fernando Meligeni in the final to lift the title and kick-start what was to be a 17-match Tour winning streak which was only ended by Goran Ivanisevic in the final of the Barcelona Open last month.

One year on and Enqvist is still showing all the power and flair that made his 2009 debut such a spectacular one. In his opening match against Oncins on Thursday evening, the 36 year-old had to use all of his speed and agility around the court as the talented Brazilian repeatedly used the tactic of coaxing his opponent into the net. Enqvist’s volleys were up to the challenge though, and more often than not the former World Number Four was able to out-manoevre his opponent and hit a winner.

After the match, Enqvist spoke about his happiness at having the chance to defend his first ever ATP Champions Tour title.

“It feels good to be back here in Sao Paulo,” he said. “I have great memories from this tournament last year and they treat us really nice here so I’m excited to be back and playing here again.”

“Jaime did really well and it was a tough match out there today. He has a really nice backhand and he also mixes up his game well with the serve and volley so he put a lot of pressure on my second serve.”

With Kafelnikov and Enqvist both winning their opening round robin matches and moving into top spot in their respective groups, a meeting between the two in Sundays’ final is becoming more probable.

Matches in Sao Paulo are played over the best of three sets, with a Champions’ Tie-break (first to 10 points with a clear advantage of two) to decide the winner. After all round-robin matches are complete, the top two players in each group will meet in Sunday's final.

Sao Paulo is the fifth of ten stops on the ATP Champions Tour in 2010, which culminates with a season-ending AEGON Masters event at London’s Royal Albert Hall from 30th November to 5th December. The season began in February in Delray Beach, where Pat Rafter beat John McEnroe in the final. At the second event in Zurich in March, Stefan Edberg overcame Goran Ivanisevic in three sets. Following that Enqvist beat Ferreira in the final in Bogotá, having swept through the tournament without the loss of a set. At the most recent event in Barcelona, Enqvist saw his unbeaten run halted in the final by Ivanisevic. After Barcelona, the tour will also call in at Graz, Austria, followed by events in Algarve (Portugal), Paris (France) and London (UK).

To view the order of play and the round-robin groups, click results.