Wawrinka Cruises Into St. Petersburg QFs

Top seed Stan Wawrinka eased into the quarter-finals of the St. Petersburg Open on Wednesday, downing Lukas Rosol 6-3, 6-1 in the second round. The Swiss, who is coming off a title run at the US Open (d. Djokovic), only lost one first-serve point and did not drop serve. He hit eight aces and secured the win in 58 minutes. Wawrinka last played in St. Petersburg in 2004. That year, he fell to Jean-Rene Lisnard in the final.

Wawrinka improved to 6-0 in the FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry against the Czech. He will face Viktor Troicki or Dusan Lajovic in the next round. Troicki routed Gastao Elias 6-1, 6-2 in under one hour in their first-round clash on Wednesday. The seventh seed notched his first match win on his fourth appearance at the St. Petersburg Open. Troicki hit six aces and lost just three of his first service points.

Elsewhere, Joao Sousa, the eighth seed, scraped past qualifier Radu Albot 3-6, 6-4, 7-5. Mikhail Youzhny improved to 32-12 lifetime at the ATP World Tour 250 tournament by overcoming Janko Tipsarevic, the 2011 runner-up, 6-3, 7-5 in one hour and 51 minutes. Youzhny beat Karol Beck for the 2004 title.