Youzhny Saves 4 M.P. To Reach Final; Faces First-Time Finalist Kukushkin

© Getty ImagesMikhail Youzhny is looking to regain the St. Petersburg Open title he won in 2004.

In an all-Russian semi-final at the St. Petersburg Open on Saturday, top seed Mikhail Youzhny earned a potentially telling victory in his bid to qualify for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals as he saved four match points to defeat Dmitry Tursunov 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(8) in just over three hours.

Youzhny fought back from a 2-4 deficit in the third set and then saved four match points in the decisive tie-break, three at 3-6 and one at 6-7, before sealing victory on his second match point. World No. 264 Tursunov, who looks to have regained his best form after returning from a right ankle injury at Roland Garros, was bidding to become the first player outside the Top 200 to reach an ATP World Tour final this season.

The 28-year-old Youzhny is attempting to qualify for the season finale at The O2 in London for the first time and will close the gap on No. 8 Andy Roddick and No. 7 David Ferrer should he win his third ATP World Tour title of the season in St. Petersburg. Currently 10th in the year-to-date ATP Rankings, Youzhny would move to within 295 points of Roddick with victory in the final.

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The Moscow native has a 24-7 lifetime mark in St. Petersburg and is through to his third final at the event. He was the last Russian to lift the trophy in 2004 (d. Beck), having finished runner-up in 2002 (l. to Grosjean).

In the final Youzhny will face Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Kukushkin who, just over a year on from reaching his first ATP World Tour semi-final as a qualifier in Moscow, is enjoying more success on Russian soil after reaching his first final with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Ukrainian Illya Marchenko.

The 22 year old followed up his quarter-final win over third seed Janko Tipsarevic by defeating Marchenko in one hour and 35 minutes. After racing to a 5-1 lead in the first set, Kukushkin surrendered one of his breaks, before serving out a one-set lead at the second opportunity. Service breaks were exchanged early in the second set, before Kukushkin broke decisively in the ninth game.

World No. 88 Kukushkin is the second Kazakhstani to reach an ATP World Tour final, joining Andrey Golubev who has a 1-2 record in finals. The Astana resident, who has a 16-8 mark on the season, will look to become the fifth first-time winner on the ATP World Tour this year.