S. Kozlov and D. Zhirmont
In the singles finals, Zhirmont (311) played against young American Stephan Kozlov (564), with the Belarusian winning two sets — 6:1, 6:4. In the first game, the host’s advantage was evident (lasting for 21 minutes) but, during the second game, the American strongly opposed him.
After the finals, Yuri Galkin — the tournament’s director — commented, “Sportsmen from over ten countries came to Minsk. In the decisive singles match, Dmitry opposed 17-year-old Kozlov. The latter has Russian roots: his father Andrey Kozlov was born in Samara but now lives in Florida. He named his sons in honour of Stefan Edberg and Boris Becker. So a namesake of the famous Swedish tennis player performed at our tournament. Home matches are good practice for Belarusians. They also provide an opportunity to earn rating points. Surprises were common at the event: our own Maxim Tybor knocked his countryman — first seed Maxim Dubarenko — out. As a result, Tybor reached the quarter-finals which was a good result for him.”
The Saleo Cup unites two tennis competitions. On October 18th, the second tournament began — featuring a different line-up but the same prize fund. On October 23rd and 24th, mini tennis events among mass media representatives were organised — proposed by the organisers. Journalists competed for the prize, which was an exact copy of the main trophy.
By Kirill Pirogov
