Read & Watch: Defending Champion Dzumhur Makes Winning St. Petersburg Return

Damir Dzumhur made a winning return to the St. Petersburg Open on Tuesday, recovering from a slow start to defeat Lucas Miedler of Austria 7-5, 6-3.

Having captured his first tour-level title at the event in 2017, the sixth seed struggled in the opening stages of his title defence. Dzumhur trailed Miedler by a double break in the first set, but rallied well to extend his unbeaten streak in the Russian city to six matches.

The defending champion converted five of nine break-point opportunities and won 70 per cent of first-serve points to advance after 84 minutes. St. Petersburg debutant Miedler was seeking his first ATP World Tour victory after straight-sets wins over Viktor Troicki and Uladzimir Ignatik in qualifying.

Dzumhur, who achieved a career-high No. 23 ATP Ranking on 2 July, will meet Ilya Ivashka or Guido Pella for a spot in the quarter-finals. The 26-year-old is yet to meet either potential opponent at tour-level.

Eighth-seeded Russian Daniil Medvedev needed only 67 minutes to defeat Joao Sousa 6-4, 6-1. The two-time tour-level titlist was clinical in important moments, converting each of his four break-point chances, to score his 30th match win in 49 tour-level contests this season. Medvedev will meet Mikhail Kukushkin or Denis Istomin in the second round.

Jan-Lennard Struff also enjoyed further success in St. Petersburg, beating #NextGenATP Russian Andrey Rublev 6-4, 7-6(6). The 2017 semi-finalist notched his fourth win in six matches at the event after 68 minutes, landing 18 aces in a strong serving performance.

Struff did not face a single break point throughout the first-round encounter, winning 88 per cent of points behind his first serve. The World No. 50 will face top seed Dominic Thiem in the second round.

Gstaad champion Matteo Berrettini took just under two hours to overcome 2013 finalist Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 7-6(5), 2-6, 6-3. The 22-year-old converted his only break point of the match in the decider to progress, improving to 17-15 at tour-level this season. The Italian awaits #NextGenATP Canadian Denis Shapovalov or Adrian Menendez-Maceiras in the second round.