Michael Berrer edges past Mikhail Kukushkin to reach the second round – St. Petersburg Open 2011
In an exciting opening round encounter at the St. Petersburg Open, the world number 85, Michael Berrer of Germany stunned the 66th ranked Kazakh opponent, Mikhail Kukushkin, on Tuesday evening.
Berrer toiled hard for two hours and nineteen minutes of play before winding up the three-setter at 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, to make it through to the second round of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250 tournament.
Being played on the indoor hard courts of the Petersburg Sports and Concert Complex in Saint Petersburg, Russia, the contest witnessed the steely nerves of the unseeded German, who turned the tables on Kukushkin to drive him out
of the competition.
The Germany took hold of the contest early by absolutely blowing away Kukushkin in the opener but lost his way through the second set to let his opponent back in business. Berrer turned the tide in the final set once again and
outplayed the world number 66 to register his 17th World Tour-level victory of the current season.
The contest remained evenly poised throughout, with a number of momentum swings observed. Kukushkin delivered just 52 per cent of his serve on target and his eight double faults on the crucial moments of the game proved much taxing
in the end. He converted four out of nine break points in the matchup, while the German winner registered seven crushing serve breaks to come out as the winner.
Berrer was off to a flyer in the opening set, nailing three successive breaks of serve to rocket past his opponent to clinch the first set at 6-1. Kukushkin replied in the second set by recording two serve breaks to bring the German
back on even terms at 1-1.
An action-packed third set was seen, with the two contestants labouring extremely hard to stay alive in the competition. Kukushkin scored two, while Berrer stung three crushing break points to finish off the proceedings at 6-4,
getting a pass to the second round of the tournament.
Berrer will either compete against the second seeded Serb opponent, Janko Tipsarevic, or will take on the unseeded Belgian, Olivier Rochus, in the next encounter to fight for a berth in the quarter-finals of the St. Petersburg
Open. Tipsarevic, who claimed an ATP championship title in Moscow this Sunday, will face Rochus in the opening round matchup on Wednesday and the winner of the tow will play against Berrer in the round of 16.
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