Fernando Verdasco and Sergiy Stakhovsky will contest a first-round St. Petersburg match on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Mikhail Youzhny and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez are looking for a place in the quarterfinals.
(5) Fernando Verdasco vs. Sergiy Stakhovsky
Verdasco and Stakhovsky will be going head-to-head for the second time in their careers when they collide in round one of the St. Petersburg Open on Wednesday. Their only previous encounter came three years ago on the indoor hard courts of Nice, where Verdasco prevailed 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-4. They were in line to face each other in a reverse singles rubber last weekend in the Davis Cup playoffs, but Spain swept its tie against the Ukraine 3-0 so the Verdasco-Stakhovsky meeting never took place.
Stakhovsky is wallowing at No. 92 in the world and his dismal 2013 campaign includes a 9-15 record at the ATP level. Of course, he did score a famous Wimbledon upset of Roger Federer with a 6-7(5), 7-6(5), 7-5, 7-6(5) second-round victory. Still, that obviously appears to be an aberration rather than a rule when it comes to Stakhovsky’s form. Verdasco started to find the range this year with a quarterfinal showing in Eastbourne. The 32nd-ranked Spaniard advanced at least two rounds in six straight tournaments–including a quarterfinal run at the All-England Club–before losing in the U.S. Open first round to Ivan Dodig. An indoor hard court may help Stakhovsky, but Verdasco is playing too well right now for a slumping opponent.
Pick: Verdasco in 2
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Guillermo Garcia-Lopez vs. (2) Mikhail Youzhny
Youzhny and Garcia-Lopez will be squaring off for the seventh time in their careers and for the second time this season when they do battle during second-round action on Wednesday. Garcia-Lopez leads the head-to-head series 5-1 after defeating Youzhny 6-3, 6-7(3), 6-2 a few months ago on the clay courts of Hamburg. They have faced each other twice on hard courts, splitting those two matches (Garcia-Lopez won at the 2009 Cincinnati event, Youzhny advanced at this same St. Petersburg tournament last year with a 6-4, 0-6, 6-3 quarterfinal triumph).
Garcia-Lopez earned his spot in the last 16 this week by dismissing qualifier Mikhail Biryukov on Tuesday. The 74th-ranked Spaniard is 16-19 for the year and coming off a competitive four-set loss to Juan Martin Del Potro in round one of the U.S. Open. Youzhny, a quarterfinalist in New York, got past wild card Aslan Karatsev 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-2 on Monday. The 20th-ranked Russian is a stellar 32-19 for his 2013 campaign. Playing at home and with plenty of confidence, Youzhny should have a considerable edge in this one.
Pick: Youzhny in 2
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