Mikhail Youzhny and Igor Andreev survived tough examinations as they progressed to the second round of the St Petersburg Open.
Russian duo both advance after three-setters
Home favourites Mikhail Youzhny and Igor Andreev survived tough examinations as they progressed to the second round of the St Petersburg Open.
Andreev saved a match point on the way to ousting sixth seed Marcel Granollers of Spain in three sets.
The world number 117 dropped the first set but levelled the match before going on to win a tie-break in the decider, coming through 3-6 6-4 7-6.
Andreev bravely held serve at 4-5 in the third set before claiming a mini-break in the tie-break, closing it out with a service winner.
"It could have gone either way in the tiebreaker," said the home hope, who snapped a five match losing streak.
"Last week I lost in a tie-breaker (at the Kremllin Cup). I decided to play more aggressively and risk today and I won."
Andreev will take on Andreas Seppi of Italy in the second round after he overcame the Canadian Vasek Pospisil 7-5 7-6.
Youzhny battles through
Meanwhile, Youzhny also needed three sets before he got the better of Frenchman Julien Benneteau.
Having taken a hard-fought opening set, Youzhny was pegged back by his opponent in the second, but the 2004 champion was always in control of the decider and eventually served out after moving two breaks clear to win 6-4 3-6 6-2.
Second seed Janko Tipsarevic - who won his second career title in Moscow on Sunday - eased past Belgium's Olivier Rochus in straight sets.
The Serb broke twice in the first set and served for the match at 5-2 up in the second only for Rochus, ranked 70th in the world, to break him twice to level at 5-5.
But Tipsarevic held his nerve and broke for a third time and served out, taking his second match-point to complete a 6-2 7-5 triumph.
In other first round action Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany rallied to beat Carlos Berlocq of Argentina 6-7 6-3 6-1.
