Kukushkin comes from behind to defeat Chardy

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP)?Seventh-seeded Jeremy Chardy lost to Mikhail Kukushkin for the second time in just over a week as his Kazakh opponent rallied to win 6-7 (3), 6-1, 6-0 in the first round of the St. Petersburg Open on Monday.

The 50th-ranked Chardy, who also lost to the 88th-ranked Kukushkin in the first round of the Kremlin Cup last week, prevailed in a first-set tiebreaker and held serve in the first game of the second set.

However, Kukushkin then won the next 12 games and the match as Chardy made a string of errors, including eight double faults.

Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia also rallied to advance to the second round, beating Filippo Volandri of Italy 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.

American veteran Michael Russell beat Russian wild card Igor Andreev 6-1, 7-5 to advance to the second round of an ATP tournament for the first time since losing to John Isner in the quarterfinals in Atlanta in July.

The 87th-ranked Russell broke Andreev twice in the first set and jumped out to a 5-2 lead in the second. The Russian, ranked 81st, leveled to five-all but was broken again in the next game. Russell clinched the win with a forehand winner on his first match point.

Source: http://feeds.tennis.com/~r/tenniscom-news/~3/DqXnD3YqrZs/

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