WHILE all the talk in St. Petersburg will be around the top 20 ranked Russian trio of Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev and Karen Khachanov, a couple of wildcards from the home nation caused a good stir on day one of the ATP 500 event with upset wins.

The 117th ranked Aslan Karatsev downed Australian Open quarter finalist and top 50 opponent Tennys Sandgren in three sets, while compatriot Evgeny Donskoy – ranked 121st in the world – knocked out the dangerous Egor Gerasimov in straight sets to advance to the Round of 16. With Russian wildcard Roman Safiullin still to come – and drawn against a lucky loser in Ecuador’s Emilio Gomez – there could be as many as six Russians in the second round.

Karatsev won in two hours and 12 minutes against Sandgren, battling across three sets before posting a 7-5 3-6 7-5 victory over the American. He broke four times to three and won a whopping 83 per cent of his first serve points, off a 62 per cent clip. Meanwhile Donskoy needed the hour and 40 minutes to dispel Belarusian Gerasimov, 6-4 7-6 and book his place in the second round in an even contest where the Russian won just four more points.

While Karatsev awaits the winner of fourth seed Khachanov and Australian James Duckworth, Donskoy has the tough task of trying to upset fifth seed Stan Wawrinka. The powerful Swiss star won in three tight sets against Great Britain’s Daniel Evans to book his spot in the Round of 16 with a 3-6 7-6 7-5 triumph. The match lasted two hours and 31 minutes with Wawrinka actually losing three more points than Evans and having one less break, but being crucial in clutch moments, particularly in the second set tiebreaker and last couple of games of the deciding set.

It was better news for another Brit in Cameron Norrie who upset eighth seed Taylor Fritz in three sets, defeating the United States’ eighth seed, 6-4 4-6 6-3 to progress through to the second round. The match lasted just under two hours as Norrie served up 16 aces to 13, and had a higher serving efficiency of 76 per cent to 58 per cent, but found a way to break his opponent twice despite Fritz only dropping six points off his first serve. The match featured just three breaks in total – one in each set – in what was a strong all-round serving performance.

In the other first round match played on day one, Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik continued his solid form this season with a come-from-behind win over American Mackenzie McDonald. The experienced Bublik won 2-6 7-6 6-4 in two hours and three minutes, putting a disappointing first set behind him to slam home 25 aces and win 84 per cent of his first serve points and stand up when it counted with a crucial break in the deciding set.

The majority of the Round 1 matches at St. Petersburg will be completed tomorrow.

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