Andreev and Tipsarevic advance in St. Petersburg

Janko Tipsarevic advanced to the second round of the St. Petersburg Open with a 6-2, 7-5 win over Olivier Rochus.

Igor Andreev rallied to upset Marcel Granollers 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (4).

Tipsarevic broke Rochus twice in the first set and served for the match at 5-2 up in the second. But Rochus broke him twice to level at 5-all.

The Serb then broke for the third time and served for the match. He double-faulted on his first match point at 40-30 before closing the match on his second serve.

Andreev saved a match point while serving at 5-4 down in the decider to force a tiebreaker. Serving at 5-4 up in the tiebreaker, Andreev landed a precise backhand down the line to earn two match points and then served a winner to close the match.

Andreev said he was struggling with his first serve in the first set.

“But it could have gone either way in the tiebreaker,” said Andreev, who lost in a third-set tiebreaker in the first round at the Kremlin Cup last week. “Last week I lost (in a tiebreaker). I decided to play more aggressively and risk today and I won.”

With the victory, Andreev ended a five-match losing streak on hard courts.

“It was a very close match,” Granollers said. “We both played good but in the tiebreaker Igor was better than me. When you are in the tiebreaker, the match can be decided by two points.”


Source AP