Alex Bogomolov eases past Igor Kunitsyn to reach the second round – St. Petersburg Open 2011
World number 36, Alex Bogomolov of the United States, faced no real challenge in dumping the 65th ranked Russian veteran, Igor Kunitsyn, in the opening encounter of the St. Petersburg Open on Tuesday evening.
The seventh seeded American raced through the sets to register a straight sets victory at 6-3, 6-1, taking merely 66 minutes of play to move into the second round of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250 event.
30-year-old Kunitsyn proved a total mismatch for the seventh seeded American, who completely outplayed him in the contest with the utmost ease. The Russian failed to pose any serious resistance to the fury of Bogomolov and let him an easy pass to the next round of the St. Petersburg Open.
Bogomolov avenged his defeat from the Russian, who beat him in the opening round at Queen’s Club, London, earlier this season. Bogomolov’s win improved his year’s record to 23-18 and earned him a place in the second round of the St. Petersburg Open.
The seventh seed delivered 80 per cent of his serve on target and secured 26 out of 36 first serve points in the matchup to come out as the winner. Bogomolov crafted a total of eight break opportunities in the contest and converted half of them to drive his opponent out of the competition with complete authority.
Kunitsyn utterly failed to register a single serve break in the entire matchup and frittered away one break chance to remain on the back foot. The 30-year-old Russian received his first jolt of the day in the sixth game, with his American opponent getting into a substantial lead of 5-2 in the opener. Bogomolov served out of the first set at 6-3 to get one up in the contest and carried on his wining impetus in the following set as well.
The seventh seeded American nailed two successive serve breaks right up in the second set, flying away to a 4-0 lead in no time. Bogomolov’s fourth break of serve came in the seventh game, finishing off the matchup in his favour at 6-1.
Bogomolov will either take on the unseeded Argentine, Carlos Berlocq, or the German competitor, Philipp Kohlschreiber, in the next round to battle it out for a quarter-final berth. Berlocq and Kohlschreiber will compete in the opening round on Wednesday evening and the winner will meet the seventh seed American in the round of 16.
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