Top seed Tomas Berdych falls to Simone Bolelli at St. Petersburg Open

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia – Top seed Tomas Berdych crashed out of the St. Petersburg Open in his first match Thursday, losing in straight sets to Italy’s Simone Bolelli.

After a first-round bye, the Czech was shaky in his second-round encounter with Bolelli, landing only 59 per cent of his first serves as he lost 7-6 (5), 6-4.

Bolelli’s quarterfinal opponent is Portuguese seventh seed Joao Sousa, who beat Spain’s Marcel Granollers 6-3, 6-3.

Earlier, Canada’s Milos Raonic used his powerful serve to blast past Russian opponent Evgeny Donskoy and into the quarterfinals.

Raonic, the second seed, fired in 13 aces and held serve throughout as he won 6-4, 6-4, knocking out the last Russian player left in the draw.

Raonic’s quarterfinal opponent will be Spanish veteran Tommy Robredo, seeded fifth, who beat Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus earlier in the day, 7-6 (5), 6-1.

Fourth seed Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain also reached the quarterfinals, winning a close match against Russia’s Teymuraz Gabashvili 6-3, 5-7, 7-5.

Bautista Agut next plays Frenchman Lucas Pouille, the winner against Poland’s Jerzy Janowicz 7-6 (8), 7-6 (1).