By Chris Oddo | Thursday September 24, 2015

 

Simone Bolelli shocked top-seeded Tomas Berdych in St. Petersburg for his first career Top-5 win.

Photo Source: Campioni Italiani

Simone Bolelli dispatched top seed Tomas Berdych from the St. Petersburg Open on Thursday, 7-6(5), 6-4. The Italian’s victory was his first in 23 tries against members of the ATP’s Top-5. He had lost 22 straight dating back to a first-round loss to Novak Djokovic at the 2008 Australian Open.

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Despite having little luck against the ATP’s Top-5 in the past, Bolelli did enter the match with two wins over Berdych and took control of the Czech during a few crucial moments late in the first set and early in the second to gain a chokehold on the match.

After blowing a 4-1 lead in the first set tiebreaker, Bolelli grabbed the final two points of the tiebreaker from 5-5, closing with a big serve to take the opener.

The 30-year-old Italian would break again for 2-1 in set two and he did not face a break point the rest of the way.

Bolelli will move on to his 6th quarterfinal of the season where he’ll face 7th-seeded Joao Sousa of Portugal. Bolelli has dropped his previous five quarterfinals while Sousa owns a 3-2 record in his five quarterfinals on the year.

The pair have never met.

Elsewhere in St. Petersburg, 2nd-seeded Milos Raonic eased past Russian Evgeny Donskoy, 6-4, 6-4, saving the only break point he faced, while Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut saved three match points en route to a comeback victory over Teymuraz Gabashvili.

Raonic will meet Tommy Robredo in the quarterfinals, while Bautista Agut will face France’s Lucas Pouille. 5th-seeded Robredo defeated Marcos Baghdatis in straight sets while Pouille knocked off Poland’s Jerzy Janowicz in two tiebreakers.