UP until the last match of the day, the Russian fans were kept satisfied at the St. Petersburg Open with the final three Russians out on court all making it through to the Round of 16. Top seed Daniil Medvedev overcame a disappointing first set and some shocking recent form to down French veteran Richard Gasquet in three sets, whilst wildcard Roman Safiullin had no troubles winning over Colombian lucky loser, Emilio Gomez in straight sets.

The number one seed and world number six was outclassed in the first set against Gasquet, as the Frenchman won 85 per cent of his first serve points – dropping only three – for the first set, off a 74 per cent clip. By comparison, Medvedev only managed the 64 per cent off 52 per cent efficiency, and won just seven off his opponent. Despite the dominance, Gasquet could only manage the one break, but it was enough to claim the first set victory, 6-3. That turned around in the second set as Medvedev found his serving rhythm and put down 10 aces, and only dropped six points – three off his first serve – in the set to break Gasquet and return the favour. By then, the momentum was well and truly with the Russian as he piled on the pressure in the last set and reduced his opponent to winning just 10 points for the decider. Medvedev won every point off his first serve and every point off Gasquet’s second serve to run out a 3-6 6-3 6-0 winner in an hour and 37 minutes.

The going was a little easier for Safiullin who dismissed Gomez, 6-4 6-2 to win in an hour and 16 minutes. It meant the sixth Russian was through to the second round, as the wildcard and world number 199 used the home court to perfect advantage to oust the world number 151. He won 78 per cent of his first serve pints and 72 per cent off his second serve, as Gomez could only manage the 57 and 47 per cent respectively. Safiullin now takes on seventh seed Croatian Borna Coric in the second round.

The other seed in the day’s action was second seed and world number 12, Denis Shapovalov with the 21-year-old needing just 62 minutes to wipe Viktor Troicki off the court in a 6-2 6-3 victory. Serving 10 aces to his opponents’ five, and winning 86 per cent of his first serve points to 58 per cent, Shapovalov was far too well rounded, capitalising on all four break point opportunities, without giving Troicki a look-in. The Canadian now advances through to take on Belarusian qualifier, Ilya Ivashka in the second round for the right to face fifth seed Stan Wawrinka in the qualifying finals.

That potential qualifying final looms as a massive one after Wawrinka shook off a determined Evgeny Donskoy in the final match of the day. The Russian wildcard pushed the Grand Slam winner all the way to three sets before going down 6-1 3-6 6-3. Wawrinka served up seven aces and won 78 per cent of his first serve points, but he could have made his job a lot easier had he capitalised on break point opportunities. The Swiss star broke three times, but from 11 chances, of which two breaks came in the first set. Donskoy only broke the one – in the second set – but also had six chances on their way to a thrilling one-hour and 42-minute contest.

The other Round of 16 match completed was Great Britain’s Cameron Norrie getting up in a tight three-set contest over Miomir Kecmanovic, 7-5 6-7 6-3 to book his spot in the qualifying finals and continue his good form of late which included an upset win over Taylor Fritz in the first round here. Now he awaits the winner of third seed Andrey Rublev and Ugo Humbert after the latter finally made his way through after a shaky start against the second lowest ranked player in the tournament. Humbert won 4-6 6-2 6-3 in two hours and 20 minutes against Russian qualifier Pavel Kotov who is a 21-year-old ranked 286 in the world. It was a great defensive effort by Kotov to hold on for as long as he did, saving 10 of his 14 break points against him, whilst still breaking Humbert twice. In the end though, the class rose to the top and Humbert made his way into the Round of 16.

Meanwhile in the other result, American Reilly Opelka was far from convincing, but got the job done against a plucky Croatian in Nino Serdarusic. Opelka put down 26 aces and won 49 of 54 first serve points, basically impenetrable on his service games outside the first set when Serdarusic shockingly managed to break him. Like Opelka, the 308th ranked qualifier knows how to use his serve to advantage, serving up 10 aces and winning 87 per cent of his first serve points, but ultimately lacked in other areas against his more experienced opponent to fall, and now Opelka moves on to face Medvedev in the second round.

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