Janko Tipsarevic continues his quest for back to back ATP titles when he plays Potito Starace in the last eight of the St Petersburg Open.
Tipsarevic extended his winning streak to six straight matches when Michael Berrer retired trailing 6-3, 2-0 during their second round match.
"I knew it was going to be a tricky match because Berrer is a very good indoor player," Tipsarevic said. "It's never nice to win this way but I feel that even (though) it was 6-3, I did a lot of running in the first set."
Tipsarevic will be keeping a close eye on events in Vienna this week where ATP World Finals rival Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is competing and the Serb will be hoping to capitalise if Tsonga slips up.
Starace stunned local favourite and eighth seed Dmitry Tursunov 6-2, 6-4 on Thursday. Tursunov saved three match points at the death but it was too little, too late as Starace booked his place in the quarters. It's a great result for Starace particularly indoors but it was a dire performance from Tursunov who shanked the ball all over the court.
Tipsarevic leads 2-1 on the head-to-head and actually won 6-3, 7-6(4) when they played at this tournament three years ago. Look for the second seed to win in straight sets again.
