Returning to the city where he was born, Alex Bogomolov Jr rallied to beat Serbian qualifier Dusan Lajovic 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 on his Kremlin Cup debut on Tuesday.
Watched by his father, a renowned tennis coach in the former Soviet Union, the fifth-seeded American made a nervous start by dropping the first set and then gave up a 4-1 lead in the deciding set before coming through.
“Four-four [in the third set] was serious, but I returned well a couple of times and then finished fine and that’s the main thing,” Bogomolov said.
It also was a celebratory night for Russian qualifier Ekaterina Ivanova, who defeated former No. 1 Jelena Jankovic of Serbia 6-4, 1-6, 6-4.
Bogomolov was born in Moscow, but moved to Mexico with his family when he was nine years old and then to the US about two years later. His father coached Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Andrei Medvedev, among others.
Bogomolov is making only his second visit to Moscow, where his father now lives, in the past nine years and has been accompanied by his Brazilian wife and their two-year-old son. He said his young son is so confused by the three languages in his life that he has hardly said a word yet.
In other matches on Tuesday, Russian pair Svetlana Kuznetsova and Dmitry Tursunov, and Gilles Muller of Luxembourg advanced to the second round with straight-set victories.
Ivanova beat the 13th-ranked Jankovic by battling back in the third set, finally breaking her in game nine to go up 5-4.
“In the second set, I lost my concentration out of tiredness, but in the third set I used my last bit of strength to win,” Ivanova said.
Jankovic, the 2008 Kremlin Cup champion, blamed her loss on tiredness.
“I felt sleepy out there and in slow motion, it wasn’t my day,” she said. “It’s the end of the season and I’m looking forward to resting and coming back stronger in 2012.”
Sixth-seeded Kuznetsova beat French qualifier Alize Cornet 6-3, 6-3, while seventh-seeded Muller hit 19 aces on his way to a 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 victory over Russian qualifier Konstantin Kravchukin. Sixth-seeded Tursunov defeated Spain’s Albert Ramos 7-6 (7/5), 6-4.
Kuznetsova, ranked 19th, controlled Cornet, whom she broke twice to lead 4-1 on her way to securing the first set. The two-time Grand Slam winner rallied from 2-0 down in the second set, winning five consecutive games to take it in front of her home crowd.
Muller, ranked 50th, saved two break points in the opening game and prevailed in a first-set tiebreaker before breaking decisively in the first game of the second set.
Muller will play Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany, who ousted Carlos Berlocq of Argentina 7-5, 6-3, in the second round.
Tursunov, ranked 40th, went down 2-5 in the first-set tiebreaker before taking the next five points and the set. He then broke Ramos in the first game of the second set and held serve for the win.
In women’s first round play, Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria advanced after Petra Martic of Croatia retired with a left foot injury after losing the first set 6-1. Ksenia Pervak was another Russian to reach the second round after a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Galina Voskoboeva of Kazakhstan.
“I beat her [Voskoboeva] three times this season and all the matches were tough,” Pervak said.
“She is a hard server, but today I played better at key moments and I was a bit lucky,” she added.
Pervak next plays third-seeded Marion Bartoli, fresh off a Japan Open win.
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