THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia — Mikhail Kukushkin won his first career title Sunday by upsetting top-seeded Mikhail Youzhny 6-3, 7-6 (2) in the final of the St. Petersburg Open.
Kukushkin’s previous best career result was a semifinal appearance in Moscow last season where he lost to Youzhny — the eventual champion — in straight sets.
The 88th-ranked Kukushkin broke the 10th-ranked Youzhny twice in the first set. After an exchange of breaks midway through the second set, Youzhny, the 2004 champion and runner-up in 2002, broke in the 11th game and served for the set, but Kukushkin broke back to force a tiebreaker.
The Russian-born Kukushkin, who moved to Kazakhstan two years ago, jumped to a 6-2 lead in the tiebreaker and sealed the win on his first match point.
"I didn’t expect I could win more then two matches here," Kukushkin said. "I’m really excited that I have won today and I think I won because I was running for every ball and played solid tennis. I do not remember how I broke back in the last game, but I’m happy with the way I played in the tiebreaker."
Youzhny, who saved a match point in the quarter-final and four more in the semifinal, said he was exhausted going into the tiebreaker.
"Mikhail has played a perfect match today and he deserved the victory," Youzhny said. "He played better on key points and it was tough for me to concentrate while receiving in the second set."
Kukushkin is expected to move to a career-high ranking in the top 60 next week.