ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP)—Top-seeded Mikhail Youzhny saved a match point and beat Victor Hanescu of Romania 6-7 (5), 6-3, 7-6 (6) Friday to reach the St. Petersburg Open semifinals.
Youzhny, the 2004 champion and 2002 finalist, will next play Russian compatriot Dmitry Tursunov. Tursunov defeated Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine 6-4, 6-2, making his first semifinals in 16 months. Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan and Illya Marchenko of Ukraine also won quarterfinal matches.
In the third set, Youzhny saved a match point at 5-4, 40-30 down on his serve. But in the tiebreaker, Hanescu, the runner-up in 2008, saved a match point before Youzhny beat him with a forehand at 6-all to earn another one. Youzhny served a winner to finish the match.
“If not for my serve, it hardly would have come to the third set,” said Youzhny, who served nine aces and wasn’t broken.
Kukushkin, ranked No. 88, beat his second seeded player this week, downing third-seeded Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia 7-5, 3-6, 6-4. Marchenko ousted Benjamin Becker of Germany 6-4, 2-6, 6-2.
Kukushkin dragged Tipsarevic into long rallies and wore him down.
“It was a tough match and Janko served hard today,” Kukushkin said. “It was tough to get a chance on receiving but I was lucky to do it at 6-5 in the first set. And I was really lucky to have a net cord on a break point in the third set to break back and turn the match my way.”
Tipsarevic served 10 aces but converted only three of 11 break chances.
“With the chances that I had, I shouldn’t have lost this match,” he said. “But during the whole match, every time when I had a chance Mikhail was playing some crazy shots. He played too good on important points.”
Marchenko broke Becker at love in the decisive ninth game of the first set, but Becker won four consecutive games in the second to send the match into a third. The Ukrainian then won five consecutive games and served the match out at love.
“I could not deal with my emotions when I felt the approach of the victory in the second set,” Marchenko said. “But I’m happy I could get back to my tennis in the third set.”