Youzhny wins St. Petersburg opener

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia, Oct. 28 (UPI) -- Top-seeded Mikhail Youzhny of Russia beat Kazakhstan's Andrey Golubev 6-3, 6-2 Wednesday in a first-round match at the St. Petersburg Open in Russia.

The 2004 St. Petersburg champion, also last week's winner at Moscow's Kremlin Cup, was joined in Wednesday's winner's circle by retiring compatriot Marat Safin, a two-time St. Petersburg champion; No. 2 Victor Hanescu of Romania, a 6-3 6-4 second-round winner over Ukraine's Illya Marchenko; Latvia's Ernests Gulbis, who downed No. 4 seed Jeremy Chardy of France 7-6 (9-7), 6-3; No. 8 Horacio Zeballos of Argentina, a 6-3, 6-1 winner over Ukraine's Oleksandr Dolgopolov Jr.; and Russian Igor Kunitsyn, who topped seventh-seeded Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay 6-4, 6-3.

Elsewhere, Germany's Bjorn Phau beat Slovakian Karol Beck 6-4, 2-1, when Beck retired because of a respiratory illness.

The eventual St. Petersburg champion will earn a $115,150 winner's check.