Russian Marat Safin began his final tournament on home soil with a 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 win over Richard Gasquet in the St Petersburg Open.
Top seed Youzhny through but Cuevas and Chardy tumble out
Russian Marat Safin began his final tournament on home soil with a 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 win over Richard Gasquet in the first round of the St Petersburg Open.
The 29-year-old, who retires from the ATP Tour after next month's Masters event in Paris, overcame the Frenchman in one hour and 40 minutes.
Having come out on top in a tie-break at the end of a competitive first set, Safin then managed the only break of serve to take the second.
The former world number one has won the event twice before, securing back-to-back titles in 2000 and 2001.
Fortunate
"Frankly speaking I was lucky to win the tie-breaker," Safin admitted afterwards.
"Gasquet served hard through the entire match and it was difficult to read his serves, but he lost concentration in the end and it helped me."
Next up for the home favourite will be compatriot Igor Andreev, the fifth seed having beaten Potito Starace in straight sets on Tuesday.
Top seed Mikhail Youzhny - who triumphed at the ATP Kremlin Cup last week - also progressed, seeing off Kazakhstan's Andrei Golubev 6-3 6-2.
Igor Kunitsyn, another Russian in the draw, knocked out seventh seed Pablo Cuevas 6-4 6-3 and there was also a shock in the second-round tie involving fourth seed Jeremy Chardy, who was beaten 7-6 (9-7) 6-3 by Ernests Gulbis.
However second seed Victor Hanescu had no such problems against Illya Marchenko, winning 6-3 6-4, while eighth seed Horacio Zeballos needed just 49 minutes to see off the challenge of qualifier Oleksandr Dolgopolov Jr.
