Safin through

Marat Safin began his final home tournament in style, beating Richard Gasquet 7-6 (7/5) 6-4 in the first round of the St Petersburg Open today.

The 29-year-old, who bows out of professional tennis after next month’s Masters event in Paris, took the first set on a tie-breaker before sealing the second with a single break of serve to book a second-round match with Igor Andreev, the fifth seed.