Mikhail Youzhny seeks to reach the quarter-finals for the first time since February when he takes on Julian Reister in Hamburg.
Youzhny ended a dire record in Hamburg on Tuesday, winning his first match at the tournament since 2005 by sealing a scrappy 7-5, 7-6(7) win over Argentina's Carlos Berlocq.
Youzhny has been struggling for form recently, losing a fairly one-sided match to Juan Carlos Ferrero in Stuttgart last week and he has not made an ATP quarter-final since February. It's been a tough time for the Russian and he will be looking forward to returning to faster surfaces later in the season.
He could do with picking up some points over the next few weeks though to alleviate some of the pressure he will be under at the US Open where he's defending semi-final points from last year.
The Russian would usually be strong favourite against wildcard and world number 155 Julian Reister but he struggles in the conditions at this event and the German players always raise their games in front of a home crowd. Reister stunned 14th seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in straight sets earlier this week.
Prediction: Youzhny in three.
