Marius Copil goes for his second successive Kazan Challenger title when he faces Estonia's Jurgen Zopp in Sunday's final.
21 year old Copil has never been ranked inside the top 200 but he showed in 2011 that he has the potential to go much further. This time last year he stunned a strong field in Kazan, scything a path through the draw before defeating former world number 33 Andreas Beck in the final.
He would surely have been ranked inside the top 150 by now if it wasn't for injury and he's cruised through the bottom half of the draw, dropping just one set in the process and defeating second seed Andreas Haider-Maurer in straight sets in the second round.
It's hard to read too much into Zopp's run to the final as sixth seed Teymuraz Gabashvili pulled out with a knee injury before their semi-final could take place. Not only that but Zopp's quarter-final clash with Ruben Bemelmans was distinctly one-sided as Bemelmans (who won the Heilbronn title last week) was injured after his second round match.
However the Estonian is still in fairly decent form right now after qualifying for the Australian Open a couple of weeks ago.
Prediction: Copil in two.
