The quarter-finals at the St. Petersburg Open on Friday feature top seed and 2004 champion Mikhail Youzhny, No. 3 seed Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia and No. 8 Victor Hanescu of Romania. In addition, Russian wild card Dmitry Tursunov and Ukrainians Alexandr Dolgopolov and Illya Marchenko are among the last eight. Of the remaining players, only Youzhny has won an ATP World Tour title this year. He’s won twice.

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In the first match on Centre Court, Marchenko and German Benjamin Becker meet for the first time on the ATP World Tour although they met in a Ukrainian Challenger three years ago. Marchenko is appearing in his fourth  ATP World Tour quarter-final of the season and Becker his fifth. The German, who is making his tournament debut, is trying to advance to his fourth semi-final in 2010.

In the second match, Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan takes on Tipsarevic for the first time. Kukushkin reached the quarter-finals in Tokyo earlier this month (l. to Nadal) and last year he advanced to his first ATP World Tour semi-final in Moscow as a qualifier. Tipsarevic, who was a quarter-finalist here two years ago, is making his sixth quarter-final showing of the year. He has been to the semis or better three times.

In the evening session, Youzhny and Hanescu square off for the seventh time (tied 3-3). Youzhny is 22-7 lifetime in St. Petersburg and he’s the last Russian winner here in 2004.  He is appearing in his ninth ATP World Tour quarter-final or better showing this year. He is 2-2 in finals. Hanescu, a semi-finalist here two years ago, is making his second quarter-final showing of the year. In April he was runner-up in Casablanca (l. to Wawrinka).

In the final match, Tursunov and Dolgopolov battle for the first time. Tursunov’s best ATP World Tour result this season was the quarter-finals in Tokyo (l. to Nadal) three weeks ago. In 2007, he was a quarter-finalist here.
His last semi-final came in June last year when he went on to capture his sixth career ATP World Tour title in Eastbourne. Dolgopolov is playing in his fourth ATP World Tour quarter-final or better this year. Dolgopolov was a semi-finalist in Eastbourne in June (l. to eventual champ Llodra).
  
FRIDAY QUARTER-FINALS HEAD-TO-HEADS – In Order of Play

Centre Court

Illya Marchenko (UKR) vs Benjamin Becker (GER) First ATP Meeting
Other Meeting:
07 Dnepropetrovsk CH (Ukraine) Hard R16 Benjamin Becker 6-2 3-6 6-1

Marchenko FastFacts:
2010 Highlights:
QF: Zagreb (l Melzer); Marseille (l Tsonga); Eastbourne (l Istomin)
YTD W-L: 17-19
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 0
Date of Birth: September 8, 1987
South African Airways 2010 ATP Ranking: 99

Becker FastFacts:
2010 Highlights:
SF: Halle (l Hewitt); s-Hertogenbosch (l Tipsarevic); Bangkok (l Nieminen); QF: Delray Beach (l Nieminen)
YTD W-L: 28-29
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 1
Date of Birth: June 16, 1981
South African Airways 2010 ATP Ranking: 57 

Mikhail Kukushkin (KAZ) vs (3) Janko Tipsarevic (SRB)  First Meeting

Kukushkin FastFacts:
2010 Highlights:
QF: Bangkok (l Nadal)
YTD W-L: 14-8
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 0
Date of Birth: December 26, 1987
South African Airways 2010 ATP Ranking: 88

Tipsarevic FastFacts:
2010 Highlights:
F: s-Hertogenbosch (l Stakhovsky); SF: Chennai (l Cilic); Los Angeles (l Querrey); QF: Dubai (l Youzhny); Washington (l Cilic)
YTD W-L: 24-20
YTD Titles: 0
Career Titles: 0
Date of Birth: June 22, 1984
South African Airways 2010 ATP Ranking: 46

(1) Mikhail Youzhny (RUS) vs (8) Victor Hanescu (ROU) Tied 3-3
03 ATP Masters Series Rome (Italy) Clay R64 Victor Hanescu 7-6(1)6-3
07 Amersfoort (The Netherlands) Clay R16 Mikhail Youzhny 6-4 6-2
09 Doha (Qatar) Hard R16 Victor Hanescu 6-2 6-4
09 ROU vs. RUS WG 1st RD (Romania) Carpet RR Mikhail Youzhny 6-4 6-2 6-4
09 Roland Garros (France) Clay R64 Victor Hanescu 7-5 7-5 7-5
09 ATP Masters 1000 Cincinnati  Hard R64 Mikhail Youzhny 7-5 6-2

Youzhny FastFacts:
2010 Highlights:
W: Munich (d Cilic); Kuala Lumpur (d Golubev); F: Rotterdam (l Soderling); Dubai (l Djokovic); SF: US Open (l Nadal); QF: ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Miami (l Soderling); Roland Garros (l Berdych); Gstaad (l Schukin)
YTD W-L: 41-17
YTD Titles: 2/Career Titles: 7
Date of Birth: June 25, 1982
South African Airways 2010 ATP Ranking: 10

Hanescu FastFacts:
2010 Highlights:
F: Casablanca (l Wawrinka)
YTD W-L: 26-22
YTD Titles: 0/Career Titles: 1
Date of Birth: July 21, 1981
South African Airways 2010 ATP Ranking: 52

(WC) Dmitry Tursunov (RUS) vs Alexandr Dolgopolov (UKR)  First Meeting

Tursunov FastFacts:
2010 Highlights:
QF: Tokyo (l Nadal)
YTD W-L: 5-7
YTD Titles: 0/Career Titles: 6
Date of Birth: December 12, 1982
South African Airways 2010 ATP Ranking: 264

Dolgopolov FastFacts:
2010 Highlights:
SF: Eastbourne (l Llodra); QF: Umag (l Ferrero); Moscow (l Baghdatis)
YTD W-L: 21-21
YTD Titles: 0/Career Titles: 0
Date of Birth: November 7, 1988
South African Airways 2010 ATP Ranking: 49