Mannarino, Starace, Youzhny, Sela succeed on Day 1 – St. Petersburg Open 2011
The opening day of the 2011 St. Petersburg Open was a day of upsets and early exists, a sight that was not expected prior to the start of the tournament in St. Petersburg, Moscow. In the first match of the tournament, top-seeded
Gilles Simon (France) was defeat by the hands of compatriot Adrian Mannarino, who had an early exit during the first round of the tournament.
Simon, who turned professional in 2002 and was the quarterfinalist of the 2009 Australian Open, was not able to enter the second round of the tournament, despite his entry into the 2011 St. Petersburg Open as the number one seed
player. Playing against fellow citizen Adrian Mannarino, Simon started the match with a positive outlook when he took the first set 6-2 but could not maintain his momentum later in the match, and lost the next two sets 4-6, 4-6. The Frenchman’s loss is a
shock since no one had expected him to leave the tournament this early. Following his loss, Gilles would not be able to qualify for the ATP World Tour Finals, which are taking place in London later this year.
In another match, Potito Starace (Italy) defeated Ivan Nedelko (Russia) to enter the second round of the tournament. Ranking at the 53rd place, the Italian was exceptional with his game play as he registered a 6-0, 6-1 win against
wild-card entry Nedelko in 44 minutes, who was unable to win a single match in the first set. Starace was in top form as he broke all of his five serves. His serves included three aces as compared to one by Nedelko. Starace earned a bagel in the first set
with scores reading 6-0.
Local Mikhail Mikhailovich Youzhny also advanced into the second round after he defeated Sergiy Stakhovsky (Ukraine) 6-3, 7-6(7). The Russian Youzhny won the first set with a convincing 6-3 victory but in the second set, Ukrainian
Stakhovsky fought back to make it one set each. The game entered into a tiebreak but the Russian prevailed in the end, winning the second set 7-6(7).
World number 97, David Sela (Israel) played his first round match against world number 16, Alexandr Dolgopolov (Ukraine), winning the match 6-2, 6-2. It was a one-sided affair as Sela, a wild-card entry, was consistent in his serves
and broke Alexandr’s serves at two occasions during the game. The Ukrainian could only manage to win two games in both sets.
Earlier this month, Alexandr was also eliminated out of the second round of the 2011 Kremlin Cup, when he faced a defeat by Jeremy Chardy (France) 6-7, 7-6(6).
In the doubles division of the 2011 St. Petersburg Open, James Cerretani (America) and Philipp Marx (Germany) defeated Julien Benneteau (France) and Jamie Robert Murray (Great Britain) 4-6, 6-3, 10-5. Michael Kohlmann (Germany)
and compatriot Alexander Waske also won their first round doubles match 7-5, 6-4 against Russian pair of Igor Kunitsyn and Dmitry Igorevich Tursunov.
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