Third seed Fabio Fognini ended Russian involvement on Thursday at the St. Petersburg Open when the Italian knocked out 2004 champion Mikhail Youzhny, competing at the ATP World Tour 250 tournament for the 16th year (34-14 match record). Fognini, the 2012 runner-up, came close to breaking at 4-4 in the second set, but Youzhny regrouped before falling 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in almost two hours. Fognini now faces Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis, who advanced to the quarter-finals for the second time (also 2012) when his German opponent Philipp Kohlschreiber withdrew due to illness before their match. Kohlschreiber must wait another week in his bid to win at least 30 matches (29-17 in 2017) for the 11th straight year. Top seed Roberto Bautista...
Qualifier Liam Broady and Damir Dzumhur both booked their places in the St. Petersburg Open quarter-finals on Wednesday. British qualifier Broady saved a break point at 4-4 in the second set, before winning eight straight games to overcome Frenchman Adrian Mannarino, the Antalya Open runner-up, 2-6, 6-4, 6-0 to advance to an ATP World Tour quarter-final for the first time. Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Dzumhur, last month’s Winston-Salem Open finalist, had his serve broken three times, but managed to get the better of Marcos Baghdatis 6-4, 7-6(4) in one hour and 38 minutes. Dzumhur, currently at a career-high World No. 55 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, is 24-7 at all levels since 19 June. Earlier in the day, two #NextGenATP players,...
Russian Mikhail Youzhny opened his 16th appearance (2001-13, ‘15-17) at the St. Petersburg Open on Tuesday by beating Australian qualifier John-Patrick Smith 7-6(6), 6-4 in one hour, 33 minutes. The 2004 champion, with a 34-13 record at the ATP World Tour 250 tournament, will next face third-seeded Italian Fabio Fognini in the second round. Seventh seed Viktor Troicki fired nine aces and saved four of five break points as he edged Andrey Kuznetsov 7-6(6), 7-6(2) in one hour and 45 minutes. "I think it was a good quality match," said Troicki. "I came up against a great player, a very talented Russian player, who I always had trouble with in the past. It was a tough one today, which I...
Sixth-seeded German Philipp Kohlschreiber, a quarter-finalist at the St. Petersburg Open 10 years ago, booked his place in the second round on Monday with a comprehensive 6-1, 6-3 victory over Russian wild card Evgeny Tyurnev in 61 minutes. Kohlschreiber, now 29-17 on the season and seeking his first ATP World Tour indoor title, will next face fellow German and qualifier Daniel Masur or Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania. Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis, a former World No. 8 who is currently at No. 122 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, struck 18 aces to knock out 2009 runner-up Horacio Zeballos of Argentina 7-5, 6-4 in one hour and 52 minutes. He’ll now challenge Damir Dzumhur, who defeated sixth-seeded Italian Paolo Lorenzi 7-5, 7-5 in...
