Sergiy Stakhovsky via d.yimg.com

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Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky, the only ATPer I can think of whose first and last names begin and end with the same letters, won his second career ATP title in St. Petersburg Sunday, saving a bevy of match points on his way to defeating Argentine Horacio Zeballos 2-6, 7-6(8), 7-6(7) in the final.

Stakhovsky was a qualifier in St. Petersburg, making it twice now that he won an ATP title after starting off the event in the qualifying draw.  When Stakhovsky won Zagreb last year, he did it as a lucky loser.

With his run to the finals, complete unknown challenger specialist Horacio Zeballos breaks into the top fifty for the first time.  He has a real fun name, so I'm hoping he sticks around for a while.

More than Stakhovsky winning, the big story out of this weekend in St. Pete was that Marat Safin couldn't seal the deal.  This tournament appeared custom made for Marat to win a final, swan song title in his home country, but he couldn't get past Stakhovsky in the semifinals. 

Safin's farewell tournament will be the Paris Masters, a tournament he won't have any shot of winning, even though he's won that event three times.  His loss in St. Petersburg to Stakhovsky means that Safin's last title of any level will almost certainly wind up being the 2005 Australian Open, which I suppose is as good a note to go out on as any.