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Tennis Player Chesnokov Shot Twice

Chesnokov in the hospital Monday. Sergei Isayev
KIEV -- Former Russian tennis player Andrei Chesnokov, who was shot twice on Sunday in eastern Ukraine, was in a stable condition in a hospital, local sports officials said Monday.

"After successful surgery to remove the bullets, Chesnokov was taken from an emergency unit to a regular hospital ward," sports association chairman Anatoly Kosyi said from Dnipropetrovsk. "His life is out of danger, and he is expected to make a full recovery."

The shooting came during a quarrel between Chesnokov and his companion and two unidentified men as the tennis player was leaving a restaurant in Dnipropetrovsk, said Ukrainian Interior Ministry spokesman Volodymyr Mulko.

Police detained one suspect after Chesnokov gave police the license plate number of the car in which the alleged attackers left the restaurant, Mulko said. The man detained, the car's driver, said another three people had been in his car.

Chesnokov, now 39, became the first Russian player to reach the top 10 in the world in the early 1990s. A semi-finalist at the 1989 French Open, he also won seven ATP titles.

After retiring from the professional tour in 1999, Chesnokov lived in France for several years playing in senior tournaments. He briefly coached former world No. 1 Marat Safin in 2000.

Chesnokov was in Dnipropetrovsk to play a local senior tournament.

(Reuters, AP)

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