Serbian tennis player Viktor Troicki hopes to make it third time lucky when he takes on Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis in the final of the Kremlin Cup on Sunday.
Troicki cruised past Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas 6-3, 6-3 in the first men's semifinal at Moscow's Olympiisky Sports Complex on Saturday. No. 4 seed Baghdatis, however, had to work hard to overcome Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin, his 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-2) win taking almost 2 1/2 hours.
Troicki is half-Russian - his grandmother came from Rostov-on-Don and grandfather from Tver - and he said the Moscow tournament had a special meaning for him.
"I like to play in Russia where I feel the crowd support," he was quoted as saying on the Kremlin Cup website.
Troicki has lost two finals in his singles career - in Washington and Bangkok - and he lost in straight sets to Baghdatis in Sydney earlier this year.
MOSCOW, October 23 (RIA Novosti)
