Igor Andreev battles past Marcel Granollers in the first round clash – St. Petersburg Open 2011
An upset result was seen in the opening round of the St. Petersburg Open, as the world number 34, Marcel Granollers of Spain crashed out of the tournament at the hands of the 117th ranked Russian, Igor Andreev, on Wednesday.
The contest was played on the indoor hard courts of the Petersburg Sports and Concert Complex in Saint Petersburg, in Russia, with the crowd witnessing a brilliant display of quality tennis from the local contestant. Andreev battled
extremely hard for two hours and fifty minutes of play before settling the final scores at 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(4), making it through to the second round of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250 event.
The unseeded Russian dropped the opening set early in the matchup to fall on the back foot but he recovered from the slump with great mastery to turn the tables on his sixth seeded opponent. The contest remained evenly poised till
the last minute and a nail biting finish was seen in the third set tie breaker round.
The Russian delivered his serve with just 58 per cent accuracy, committing five double faults, but secured 49 out of 69 first serve points in the matchup to come out as the winner. His three break point conversions were replied
by four cracking serve breaks from Granollers but the Spaniard coughed a couple of costly errors in the final set tie breaker to finish on the losing side in the end.
Granollers was off to a flying start in the opener, breaking his opponent’s serve in the seventh and the ninth game to seal the first set at 6-3, getting one up in the matchup. Andreev gradually regrouped in the following set and
stuck two successive breaks of serve towards the end to pocket the set at 6-4. An exchange of serve breaks in the beginning of the final set was followed by a regular game to take the scores to 6-6.
It all came down to the tie breaker round and both men fought desperately to remain alive in the competition. Andreev upped his gears when the score was 3-3 and reeled off three straight points to reach match point. He converted
his second opportunity to finish off the contest at 7-6(4), making into the next round of the tournament.
Andreev will take on the unseeded Italian, Andreas Seppi, in the next round clash to earn a place in the quarter-finals of the St. Petersburg Open. Seppi outplayed Vasek Pospisil of Canada in the opening round to book a match with
Andreev in the second.
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