Tursunov slump continues at St. Petersburg

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia, Oct. 20 (UPI) -- Sixth-seeded Dmitry Tursunov was routed Monday in first-round play at the $1.49 million St. Petersburg Open tennis tournament in Russia.

Dominik Hrbaty swept by Tursunov 6-1, 6-1 in a 56-minute match. Tursunov, No. 26 in the world, has lost three consecutive matches since he won the tournament at Metz, France, dropping decisions to the No. 71- and No. 73-rated players before falling to the 340th-ranked Hrbaty in that span.

Tursunov on Monday had his serve broken six times and won less than 40 percent of the points in the match.

Victor Hanescu posted an impressive 6-1, 6-2 win over Evgeny Korolev and Rainer Schuettler got by Igor Kunitsyn 6-2, 6-3 as Russian players went 0-3 on the day.

Andy Murray, coming off a win at the ATP Masters in Madrid, is the top seed and defending champion at the 2008 St. Petersburg Open.

The tournament continues through Sunday when the winner collects $171,000.