Russia’s Dmitry Tursunov advanced to the quarter-final of the St Petersburg Open. The fourth seed triumphed over the countryman Konstantin Kravchuk in a second-round match in one hour and 7 minutes (6-3, 6-0). With the 3-3 score in the first set the Russian went on to win nine games in a row.
“At the beginning of the match I struggled with my serve: constant first-serve faults with unforced errors on the second. I was lucky not to get a break saving the game from 0-40. On the other hand, my return service was quite good. My today’s opponent’s main strength was a powerful service. But if you return all his balls it creates extra pressure on him. From this point of view, I created a lot of problems for him along the way. Plus, I improved my own serve in the second set,” said Dmitry Tursunov after the match.
Do you feel pressure that you have the highest rating among the remaining players?
No one can create such pressure for you. To wind yourself up, you can always find a reason to explain this or that lost match. It does not bother me who has left the tournament and who has what rating. I just focus on my own game.
Your next opponent is Joao Sousa whom you defeated in the qualification competition at Cincinnati 6-1, 6-4. What can you say about him?
He is an inconvenient opponent. The Cincinnati score, and indeed the result of today’s match, could be misleading as if those matches were one-way affairs. In reality, it is far from the truth. In many games today we had deuce which I won in most cases and therefore I won the whole match. The courts here are slower and the balls are heavier which might create additional difficulties having in mind that Sousa likes to have marathon rallies…

News source: St. Petersburg Open
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