Russian run continues for Rusedski

In-form Greg Rusedski today booked his place in the last eight of the St Petersburg Open via a hard-fought three-set victory over Radek Stepanek.

Rusedski soon knew he had a battle on his hands against a Czech opponent he had never faced before, but he came through in the end to earn a quarter-final tie on Friday against either Alex Corretja or Ivo Karlovic.

The British number two prevailed via a tie-break in the first set but lost his serve in the second and eventually went down 6-4.

Rusedski, who reached the final of the Kremlin Cup in Moscow earlier this month when previously out-of-sorts Stepanek was a quarter-finalist and had a straight-sets win over former Olympic champion Marc Rosset in the first round this week, dug deep in the decider today to win it 6-4.