Mikhail Kukushkin produced one of the performances of his career to stun top seed Mikhail Youzhny and lift the St Petersburg Open title.
Top seed stunned by Kazakh on home patch
Unheralded Kazakh Mikhail Kukushkin produced one of the performances of his career on Sunday to stun top seed Mikhail Youzhny and lift the St Petersburg Open title.
The 22-year-old defied the odds to silence the partisan home crowd and claim a 6-3- 7-6 (7-2) victory in two hours and 25 minutes.
Kukushkin, ranked 88 in the world, claimed four breaks of serve to become only the second player from Kazakhstan to win an ATP title following Andrey Golubev's success in Hamburg earlier this year.
After breaking serve twice to win the opening set, Russian-born Kukushkin lost his serve midway through the second to allow Youzhny the opportunity to level matters.
But the 2004 champion then fluffed his lines, with Kukushkin breaking back to force a tiebreaker, which he won for the loss of only two points.
Amazing
"What can I say, it was an amazing week for me," Kukushkin said after pocketing the $113,600 winner's cheque.
"Honestly, when the tournament started I didn't think I would last two rounds here, but I found myself playing in the final.
"Today I served well, played solid from the baseline, and also took my chances. That's the secret of my success."
Youzhny, who was aiming for his third title of the year, praised the winner, saying: "I don't want to look for excuses, the fact that I had to play two tough matches just to get to the final.
"I would rather give credit to my opponent, who played really well today and fully deserved his victory."
