Alexander Zverev won a battle of the young guns today as he progressed to the second round of St.Petersburg.
It was a close first set, which only saw one break point created by the two men. This tight first set proved evident as it went to a first set tiebreak, which saw Zverev establish his dominance on serve and take the tiebreak 7-3. However his level dropped in the second set, and the young Russian, ranked 102 in the world took advantage to break for a 2-0 lead. Both men would continue to hold serve until the seventh game, where Zverev grabbed the initiative and broke Khachanov. He would then continue his momentum and win the next three games after that to take the match 7-6(3) 6-4. This win would be Zverev’s 35th win of the season. The world number 27 will now play another Russian youngster in Alexander Bublik or Daniil Medvedev in round two.
Also in St.Petersburg saw Ricardas Berankis pick up a 7-6(7) 3-6 6-3 over Adrian Mannarino in just over two hours. This was a scrappy match, which saw 12 breaks of serve between both men. But Berankis held his nerve to pick up a big victory. He will now play fourth seed Roberto Bautista Agut in the next Round. And Lukas Rosol also picked up a good 6-4 6-4 win over Diego Schwartzman to advance into round two, where he will play US Open champion Stan Wawrinka.
Tomorrow in Russia, we will see sixth seed Albert-Ramos Vinolas in action as he takes on Alexandre Sidorenko. And also an exciting all Russian match between Alexander Bublik and Daniil Medvedev. And tomorrow also sees the first day of action in the doubles tournament.
