Six of the eight seeded players are through the quarterfinals after the second round was wrapped up on Thursday at the St. Petersburg Open. However, there was a major upset as one of the heavy favourites choked and blew a major lead to be eliminated in his opening match. Here’s what happened on day four in St. Petersburg.
Results
In the biggest upset of the tournament so far, defending champion Milos Raonic was ousted in his opening match by Russian Mikhail Youzhny. Raonic was up a set and a break, serving for the match twice in the second set and even led the second set tiebreak 5-1, but ended up imploding and allowing Youzhny to come back and take the match. Check out the full recap here.
Tomas Berdych narrowly avoided a second early loss in a row in St. Petersburg, needing a third set tiebreak to put away Russian Andrey Kuznetsov. An early break was enough for the Czech in the opening set as he hung on, despite some good pressure from his opponent, to take it 6-3. Kuznetsov roared back in the second, breaking Berdych twice, including in the final game of the set, to take it 6-2. The Russian actually had more chances to take control in the third set, but failed to convert any of his three break points. The misses proved costly, as Berdych raced ahead 6-2 in the tiebreak, eventually winning it 7-4 to wrap up with a narrow victory.
For the second day in a row, Joao Sousa was made to fight through a three setter. The 2015 runner-up needed more than two hours to put away Andrey Rublev 7-6(3), 3-6, 6-3 to reach the quarterfinals. It was the Russian who got out to the early lead, breaking early and holding a set point before he was broken trying to serve out the set. Sousa would go on to take the tiebreak, but Rublev bounced right back in the second set, this time holding on to his break lead to level the match. In the final set, after saving a break point in the fifth game, Sousa grabbed the crucial break and hung on for the three set victory.
Seventh seed Viktor Troicki was untroubled in his second round match, easily dispatching Dusan Lajovic in straight sets. Troicki raced out to a 5-1 lead in the first, eventually hanging on to take it 6-4. He grabbed the lone break midway through the second set, hanging on to take it by the same score. Fifth seed Alexander Zverev had a much harder time in booking his quarterfinal spot, being forced to come back from a break down in both sets before eventually ousting Daniil Medvedev in straight sets. The Russian led 3-0 in the first set before losing six straight games, then broke immediately for a 2-0 lead in the second holding it until Zverev eventually levelled at 4-4. The German teen went on to take the second set 7-5 to advance.
The quarterfinals will take place tomorrow with top seed Stan Wawrinka taking on Troicki, fourth seed Roberto Bautista Agut going up against Sousa, Berdych battling Paolo Lorenzi, and Zverev challenging Youzhny.