Top seed Stan Wawrinka eased into the quarter-finals of the St. Petersburg Open on Wednesday, downing Lukas Rosol 6-3, 6-1 in the second round. The Swiss, who is coming off a title run at the US Open (d. Djokovic), lost only one first-serve point and did not drop a service game. Wawrinka hit eight aces in the 58-minute win. He last played in St. Petersburg in 2004, falling to Jean-Rene Lisnard in the final of the ATP Challenger Tour event.
"I'm happy with my preparation for this tournament. I played at a good level for a first match, especially against Rosol, a player against whom I've played close matches this year," Wawrinka, who had a first-round bye, said. "I was trying to make him uncomfortable by mixing the speed of my shots since he likes having a rhythm. I'm surprised with how well things went, but when I play well I know I can beat anyone."
Wawrinka improved to 6-0 in the FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry against the Czech. He will face Viktor Troicki or Dusan Lajovic in the next round. Troicki routed Gastao Elias 6-1, 6-2 in under one hour in their first-round clash on Wednesday. The seventh seed notched his first match win in his fourth appearance at the St. Petersburg Open. Troicki hit six aces and lost just three of his first service points.
Roberto Bautista Agut rallied to beat Ricardas Berankis 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(2) in two hours to move into the quarter-finals. The No. 4 seed was a game from elimination at 5-6 in the deciding set, but held serve at love before asserting his dominance in the third-set tie-break.
Elsewhere, Joao Sousa, the eighth seed, scraped past qualifier Radu Albot 3-6, 6-4, 7-5. Mikhail Youzhny improved to 32-12 lifetime at the ATP World Tour 250 tournament by overcoming Janko Tipsarevic, the 2011 runner-up, 6-3, 7-5 in one hour and 51 minutes. Youzhny beat Karol Beck for the 2004 title.
Begemann/Paes Into Doubles QFs
Doubles legend Leander Paes and partner Andre Begemann are into the doubles quarter-finals after dismissing Janko Tipsarevic and Viktor Troicki 6-2, 6-4. They will next face Purav Raja and Divij Sharan, who beat Andres Molteni and Hans Podlipnik-Castillo 6-4, 6-4.
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