By ,
Published November 20, 2014
The St. Petersburg Open lost its second seed on Wednesday when Denis Istomin bowed out of the draw.
Poland's Lukasz Kubot upended the Uzbekistanian Istomin in come-from-behind fashion, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, on the indoor hardcourts at SCC Peterburgsky.
Three other seeds avoided opening-round upsets, as No. 3 Martin Klizan of the Slovak Republic defeated Russian Mikhail Elgin 6-4, 6-3, No. 4 Fabio Fognini of Italy overcame German Tobias Kamke 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, and No. 8 Jurgen Zopp of Estonia topped Russian qualifier Andrey Kumantsov 6-3, 5-3, retired.
Additional first-round wins came for Russian wild card Teymuraz Gabashvili, Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky, Italians Simone Bolelli and Paolo Lorenzi, and Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis, who was a surprise finalist in Los Angeles in July. Stakhovsky was the St. Petersburg champion in 2009. Bolelli beat the '09 runner-up to Stakhovsky, Argentine Horacio Zeballos, in straight sets on Wednesday.
The second round will be staged on Thursday, including a match for top-seeded long-time Russian crowd favorite Mikhail Youzhny, who will be opposed by American Rajeev Ram.
The former top-10 star Youzhny titled in St. Petersburg in 2004 and was the runner-up here in 2002 and 2010.
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/istomin-exits-st-petersburg