ST. PETERSBURG, Russia, Oct. 20 (UPI) -- Seeded players Mikhail Youzhny and Gaston Gaudio survived close first round matches Monday at the $1 million St. Petersburg Open.
Youzhny, last year's finalist who is seeded fifth, overcame Romanian Andrei Pavel 6-7 (3-7), 7-6 (7-1), 6-1. He next meets the winner between 1995 champion Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Nicolas Kiefer.
Gaudio, a seventh-seeded Argentine, also struggled in the first set before winning 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 over Alberto Martin of Spain. Gaudio was a quarterfinalist here in his first appearance a year ago.
In the other three matches between unseeded players, Sargis Sargsian of Armenia rolled over Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic, 6-3, 6-2; Vladimir Voltchkov of Belarus ousted Russian wild card Vadim Davletshin, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 and Slovakia's Dominik Hrbaty eliminated David Ferrer of Spain, 7-5, 6-2.
