• ATP Tour

Sela dents Dolgopolov's London chances

ESPN staff
October 24, 2011
Alexandr Dolgopolov was felled by Dudi Sela in St Petersburg © PA Photos
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Alexandr Dolgopolov's chances of qualifying for the ATP World Tour Finals suffered a major blow when the Ukrainian fell in the first round of the St Petersburg Open.

Dolgopolov, currently 15th in the race for London, was looking to pick up 250 ranking points with victory in Russia, but was sent crashing out at the first hurdle by Israeli wild card Dudi Sela.

Sela broke the third seed twice in each set to claim only his eighth win of the season with a resounding 6-2 6-2 scoreline.

Elsewhere in the competition, top seed Gilles Simon is out after France's Adrian Mannarino came from a set down to win 2-6 6-4 6-4. Simon, the world No. 12, created double the number of break points amassed by his opponent, but still managed to come out on the wrong end of the result.

Fifth seed Mikhail Youzhny is through though after he required only two sets to defeat Sergiy Stakhovsky. Youzhny wrapped things up with a tight victory in a tiebreaker for a 6-3 7-6(7) triumph.

Meanwhile, Potito Starace needed just 45 minutes to book his place in the second round with a 6-0 6-1 win over Russian wildcard Ivan Nedelko.

At the Erste Bank Open in Vienna Marcos Baghdatis began the week with a comfortable straight sets win over Ryan Sweeting. Cypriot Baghdatis hit 10 aces in a 6-4 6-2 victory.

And there were also plenty of booming serves in Kevin Anderson's 6-4 6-4 win over Andreas Haider-Maurer. The sixth seed eventually wrapped up the contest in an hour and a half, after a match that produced 18 aces.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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