ATP-Challenger: Astana: Yuri Rodionov knocks out the defending champion

It continues to run splendidly for 19-year-old Yuri Rodionov!

After his opening win over Yannick Mertens, Rodionov defeated five seeded Belarusian Egor Gerasimov 7-5, 6-2 on Wednesday, after Gerasimov won the 125,000 US dollar ATP Challenger in Astana/Kazakhstan last year. The Austrian rookie, who won his first ATP-Challenger in Almaty/Kazakhstan a month ago, was correspondingly happy.

Rodionov, currently number 284 in the ATP ranking, will meet Maxima Janvier from France (No. 320) in the quarter-finals on Friday. Should he win, there could be even more, because top seed Mikhail Youzhny, who was in the upper half of the table with Rodionov, lost surprisingly against Indian qualifier Saketh Myneni.

On Thursday Sebastian Ofner will also play for a place in the quarter-finals – he will meet Khumoyun Sultanov from Uzbekistan.

The single tableau from Astana