S.-PETERSBURG, 4 Jan, Sergey Yaremenko. Russian Roman Safiullin shows his best tennis at the ATP Cup tournament and matches the level of the 50 best tennis players in the world, said the President of the Russian Tennis Federation (RTP) Shamil Tarpishchev. The tennis players of the Russian national team on Tuesday won an early victory in the match with the Australian team at the group stage of the Association of Tennis Professionals Cup (ATP Cup) in Sydney. Safiullin (167th in the ATP rating) beat James Duckworth (7: 6 (8: 6), 6: 4), Daniil Medvedev — Alex de Minaura (6: 4, 6: 2). «Safiullin is now showing his best tennis Exactly at the level of the top 50. In his match, everything could have been more complicated, but he won the first set, losing 2: 5. This gave him a psychological head start over his opponent. Duckworth was still stronger in terms of experience and class. But after winning the first match (against Frenchman Arthur Riederknech) at the ATP Cup, Roman gained confidence and due to it he shows his best tennis, «Tarpischev said. In the first match (against the Frenchman Hugo Humbert) he had slight cramps, but this is typical for the preparatory period, where there is a lot of physical activity. Our team is playing well. We hope that it will get out of the group from the first place «, — said Tarpishchev.
