Advertisement

Garcia-Lopez beats Youzhny, makes St. Petersburg quarters

Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, shown during a match at the 2013 U.S. Open, improved to 6-1 lifetime against Mikhail Youzhny with a second-round win Wednesday at the St. Petersburg Open. Youzhny was the No. 2 seed in the tournament. UPI Photo/Monika Graff
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, shown during a match at the 2013 U.S. Open, improved to 6-1 lifetime against Mikhail Youzhny with a second-round win Wednesday at the St. Petersburg Open. Youzhny was the No. 2 seed in the tournament. UPI Photo/Monika Graff | License Photo

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia, Sept. 18 (UPI) -- Guillermo Garcia-Lopez ousted second-seeded Mikhail Youzhny in a second-round match Wednesday at the St. Petersburg Open tennis tournament in Russia.

Garcia-Lopez had at least one break in each set of a 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 win over Youzhny. After relatively close first two sets, the third set was all Garcia-Lopez as he built a 5-1 lead before closing out that match.

Advertisement

Even though Youzhny is 20th in the rankings and Garcia-Lopez No. 74, Garcia-Lopez has won six of his seven matches against Youzhny.

Garcia-Lopez advances to the quarterfinals against eighth-seeded Denis Istomin, who got by Andrey Golubev 4-6, 6-3, 6-4. There were only three breaks in the match -- with single breaks by Istomin in the second and third sets deciding the match. Both players had numerous opportunities. Istomin was just 2-of-9 in break chances and Golubev was 1-of-8.

Roberto Bautista Agut beat third-seeded Janko Tipsarevic 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 in a first-round match, dropping Tipsarevic to 19-20 on the year. Also, Sergiy Stakhovsky defeated No. 5-seeded Fernando Verdasco 6-3, 6-4.

Advertisement

No. 6-seeded Ernests Gulbis was a 6-0, 6-1 winner over Mikhail Elgin, needing a mere 41 minutes to win while taking nearly three-quarters of the points overall in the match. Seventh-seeded Lukas Rosol advanced to the second round, beating Ricardas Berankis 6-4, 7-6 (7-4).

Also in the first round Wednesday, Michal Przysiezny edged past Albert Ramos 3-6, 6-4, 6-3; Joao Sousa topped Paolo Lorenzi 6-3, 6-4 and Konstantin Kravchuk stopped Horacio Zeballos 7-6 (7-5), 6-3.

Latest Headlines