The World number 242 made light work of former Roland Garros Semi-Finalist Ernests Gulbis to win his second ATP main draw match. A 6-3 6-0 win secures his place in the second round in St.Petersburg.
The big serving Brit was hardly threatened on his serve as he looked to dominate his higher ranked Latvian opponent. Broady broke in the sixth game of the match to gain a 4-2 lead in the first set and looked comfortable on serve. Both players continued to hold serve as the sixth best British player gained the first set in 33 minutes.
The Brit only continued to thrive in the indoor conditions as he broke Gulbis three times in the second and created nine break point opportunities throughout the set. Gulbis produced a shambolic performance in the second set as the Brit won the second set 6-0 to book his place in the second round. He will now play fourth seed Adrian Mannarino.
In other results 7th seed Viktor Troicki booked his place into the second round with a 7-6(6) 7-6(2) victory over home favourite Andrey Kuznetsov. The Serbian won 41 out of 43 first service points to seal a match with either fellow Serbia on Dusan Lajovic or Guido Pella.
However one Russian did win today and that was controversial star Mikhail Youzhny who beat Australian qualifier John-Patrick Smith 7-6(6) 6-4 in 1 hour and 32 minutes. It only took one break of serve from the Russian to break down the impressive serve for the Australian. An entertaining prospect with 3rd seed Fabio Fognini awaits for the Moscow native.
The last result of the day saw Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis outlast German qualifier 3-6 6-3 6-2. Another German awaits Berankis in the next round as he has to deal with the dangerous backhand of 5th seed Philipp Kohlschreiber.
