St. Petersburg Open—Russia

Future French hopeful Jeremy Chardy made quick work of Petru-Alexandru Luncanu on Tuesday, defeating the qualifier 6-2, 6-2.

Chardy, who has been touted as a potential top 10 player, used his canon serve and sonic forehand to improve to 34-25 on the season.

The one hour and two minute match consisted of Chardy winning 80 percent of his first serve points, striking six aces, and breaking his opponents serve on four of seven occasions.

Luncanu, who was playing in only the second tour level match of his career, won a mere 59 percent of his first serve points, and hit four double faults while failing to obtain any break point chances.

The No. 322 ranked Romanian was at the mercy of his higher ranked opponent—appearing out of his element throughout the contest.

With the win, Chardy sets up an interesting second round encounter with Latvian Ernests Gulbis. Gulbis defeated Florian Mayer in first round action on Sunday.

Chardy and Gulbis have never met on the ATP World Tour.

The young Latvian is in the mist of alleged prostitution charges he suffered in Sweden last week and has failed to comment on the status of his case.

Elsewhere, No. 4 seed Igor Andreev kept Russian hopes alive for a hometown winner on Tuesday, easily dispatching Potito Starace 6-4, 6-2 in first round action.

Andreev's lethal forehand produced the bulk of his winners over the one hour and 24 minute encounter, allowing for his 28th win of the season to take place.

Andreev, who has endured reasonable struggles throughout the year, broke Starace's serve twice in each set, while saving six of seven break chances against his serve.

Andreev's topspin style is by no means tailor made to the indoor Russian stadium, making it a difficult task for the 26-year-old to progress deep in the event.

Andreev will next meet the winner of a blockbuster first round match between Marat Safin and Richard Gasquet.

Safin, who is retiring at the end of this season, will take a 3-2 lifetime head-to-head record over Gasquet into Wednesday's first round contest.

No. 8 seed Haracio Zeballos improved to 2-3 on the season on Tuesday, ousting Yuri Schukin 7-6 (9), 6-3 in one hour and 38 minutes.

Zeballos, who has won five Challenger titles this year to go along with three other finals, has positioned himself at the No. 54 position in the world despite his lack of main tour play.

Zeballos, who previously won his lone match of the year during the first round of the US Open (d. Michael Berrer), served tremendously against Schukin, striking 17 aces and winning 78 percent of his first serve points.

Schukin, who was competing in his first ATP World Tour match of the year, produced adequate serving numbers throughout his defeat, hitting seven aces and winning 62 percent of his total service points.

With the win, Zeballos will now head to second round action where he will face Oleksander Dolgopolov Jr., who moved past Robby Ginepri when the American was forced to retire in the second set trailing 6-2, 1-0.

Illya Marchenko continued his fine form which saw him reach the semifinals in Moscow last week, defeating Fabio Fognini 6-4, 6-1. Marchenko will next meet No. 2 seed Victor Hanescu in the second round.

Other first round action completed on day two was as follows:

  • Michail Elgin prevented Mikhail Kukushkin from repeating his semifinal heroics from Moscow, defeating Kazakastan native 6-3, 6-3.
  • Russian wildcard Andrey Kuznetsov handed Marcel Granollers his 24th defeat of the season, ousting the Spaniard 6-7 (4), 7-6 (8), 6-4.
  • Elgin will next face either No. 7 seed Pablo Cuevas or Igor Kunitsyn, while Kuznetsov will take on Tuesday's final match winner between No. 6 seed Evgeny Korolev or Sergiy Stakhovsky.
  • Korolev, who made the quarterfinals of Moscow last week, will be looking to even his win-loss record for the year which stands at 16-17.

Wednesday's action in St. Petersburg will feature:

Top seed Mikhail Youzhny vs. Andrey Golubev, Safin vs. Gasquet, and Chardy vs. Gulbis.

 

Bank Austria Tennis Trophy—Vienna

Former Vienna champ Feliciano Lopez advanced to the second round in Austria on Tuesday, defeating Andreas Haider-Maurer 6-4, 6-4 in first round action.

Lopez, who captured his lone career tour title during the 2004 Vienna event (d. Guillermo Canas), struck six aces and won an astounding 92 percent of his first serve points (24-26), to oust the Austrian qualifier.

Haider-Maurer, who was competing in his first ever tour level match, currently resides at No. 184 in world. The 22-year-old Zwettl native has diligently participated in Challenger level tournaments on season, hoping to gather the required points to move up to the main tour.

With the win, the No. 6 seeded Spaniard improved to 15-6 at the event, and advanced to the second round meeting with either Jarkko Nieminen or Daniel Koellerer.

No. 2 seed Radek Stepanek began his Vienna campaign in style on Tuesday, defeating dangerous floater Lukasz Kubot 6-4, 6-1.

Stepanek pounced on is opponent's second serve throughout the one hour and 23 minute contest, winning 55 percent of Kubot's second serve points.

Stepanek, who will lead the Czech Republic into the Davis Cup final in December, won 72 percent of his total service points, while hitting 10 aces.

The serve and volley tactics of Stepanek kept his Polish opponent off rhythm for much of the contest, improving his win-loss record to 40-17 on the year.

Stepanek will next face Frederico Gil, who defeated hometown hopeful Stefan Koubek in three sets on Monday.

Philipp Kohlschreiber, who is seeded No. 4 this week, easily defeated Dieter Kindlmann 6-1, 6-3 earlier in the day. Kohlschreiber's consistent baseline game, coupled with his four of 11 break points conversions, led the 26-year-old German to his 38th win of the season.

Kindlmann, who was in search of his first win of the year, failed to convert on all four of his break points opportunities, while winning only 32 percent of his second serve points.

With the win, Kohschreiber will next face Victor Crovoi in round two. Crovoi defeated Jan Henrych in straight sets on Monday.

Lucky loser Michael Berrer, who took the place of defending champ Philipp Petzchner in the draw, dispatched the formidable challenge of Steve Darcis 6-3, 6-2.

Petzchner was forced to withdraw from the event due to a left calf strain. The German was attempting to defend his lone career title.

Matches that are still to come on Tuesday will include:

Top seed Marin Cilic vs. Alejandro Falla, No. 7 seed Jurgen Melzer vs. Marco Chiudinelli, and Andreas Seppi vs. Jan Hajek.

Cilic will begin his hopeful run to his third title of the season; Melzer, who is the highest seeded Austrian in the event will have complete fan support when he takes on his Swiss opponent; and Seppi will attempt to win his 23rd match of the year.

Seppi's slumping season has been highlighted by two semifinal finishes at Umag, Croatia and Belgrade, Serbia.

 

Grand Prix Tennis de Tennis de Lyon—France

Top seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga begins his quest for his four title of the season on Tuesday, taking on the unheralded efforts of American Kevin Kim.

Tsonga, who is still in contention to qualify for the season-ending Barclays ATP World Tour finals in London, currently stands at the No. 8 position in the race.

Tsonga has never played Kim tour, remaining the undeniable favorite going in.

No. 3 Ivan Ljubicic, who is in the twilight of his career, dismissed Martin Vassallo Arguello of Argentina 6-3, 6-4. The one hour and 28 minute match saw Ljubicic capitalize on two of 12 break point chances, while winning 88 percent of his first serve points.

Ljubicic's recent good fortune on tour has included making the quarterfinals of the Shanghai Masters 1000 (l. Rafael Nadal), as well as the quarterfinals of the Beijing Open (l. Robin Soderling).

With the win, Ljubicic improved to 27-21 on year and will next face either Sebastien Grosjean or Nicolas Kiefer.

Elsewhere, No. 7 seed Benjamin Becker ousted Paola Lorenzi 6-2, 6-3; No. 8 seed Albert Montanes ended the popular run of Fabrice Santoro 6-4, 6-4; tricky Frenchman Michael Llodra destroyed Lamine Ouahab 6-1, 6-2; two-time finalist Marc Gicquel breezed past countryman Jerome Haehnel 6-1, 6-4; hard-hitting South American Kevin Anderson won his second match of the year, ousting Simon Greul 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (3); David Guez won his first career match, defeating Newport winner Rajeev Ram 6-2, 6-4; and Arnaud Clement dispatched Oscar Hernandez 6-1, 6-3.

Wednesday's schedule of play in Lyon will feature:

No. 2 seed Gilles Simon vs. Simone Bolelli, Paul-Henri Mathieu vs. Leonardo Mayer, and Oliver Rochus vs. Vincent Millot.

Please check back on Wednesday for continuing daily coverage from St. Petersburg, Vienna, and Lyon.

Cheers.