St. Petersburg, Russia – Top seed Gilles Simon and third- round winner Monday at the St. Petersburg Open.
Simon was stunned by fellow Frenchman Adrian Mannarino in three sets, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, while the Ukrainian Dolgopolov succumbed to Israeli wild card Dudi Sela 6-2, 6-2 in 59 minutes. Sela captured just his eighth match win of the year.
The fifth-seeded Russian favorite Youzhny got past Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-3, 7-6 (9-6) on the indoor hardcourts at SCC Peterburgsky. Stakhovsky was a surprise titlist here two years ago.
Youzhny was last year's St. Petersburg runner-up to Kazakhstan's Mikhail Kukushkin and titled here back in 2004. The Russian veteran was also a runner- up here in 2002.
Kukushkin will play his opener here against German Michael Berrer on Tuesday.
In other opening-round action, Italian Potito Starace crushed helpless Russian wild card Ivan Nedelko 6-0, 6-1 in a mere 44 minutes on Day 1.
The winner of this $663,750 event will earn $114,750.
