Gulbis Wins Delray Beach Title

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Gulbis Wins Delray Beach Title

By Chris Oddo

(March 3, 2013) -- Ernests Gulbis once again gave the tennis world a glimpse of his enormous potential in Delray Beach, as he won his third career title with a 7-6(3), 6-3 victory over Frenchman Edouard Roger-Vasselin on Sunday.

Playing in the first ATP final to feature two players ranked outside the top 100 since 2007, Gulbis’s quality shone through down the stretch as the 24-year-old missed only three first serves in the second set and did not face a break point as he broke open a close match to win the last four games on the trot.

Things were not so simple in the first set, as the Latvian No. 1 found himself down a break and facing set point before he used a little gamesmanship to rattle the Frenchman in his first career final.

Roger-Vasselin was serving for the set when Gulbis had a chat with the chair umpire about some noise he heard in the stands.

“I cannot say that sometimes I don’t do it on purpose,” Gulbis said of his well timed verbal volley. “I know that the guy is nervous. That’s part of the mental game. If you cannot be tough enough to deal with my talking to the umpire, OK, you lose the set. That’s it.”

Gulbis would save set point and eventually break to level the set at five apiece.

Roger-Vasselin, who had never been beyond the quarterfinals of an ATP event, had ended a 12-match losing streak against top 20 opponents on Saturday when he defeated John Isner in the three-set semifinal.

But the same nerves that nearly were his downfall against Isner plagued him in the first set against Gulbis, too.

Gulbis took the breaker and rode the momentum into the second set, where his devastating serve took over. He lost only five points on serve in the set, and never faced a break point. The big, ornery serve is one of the shots that has had tennis pundits and fans alike raving about his potential for years.

After today, they'll be raving again.

Gulbis’s second Delray Beach title in four years pushes him up the rankings to No. 67. It's a pleasant surprise for Gulbis, who had been a non-factor since upsetting Tomas Berdych in the first round of Wimbledon last season.

“My coach felt I would go back into the top 100 in April,” the qualifier said. “I won eight matches in a row here. It’s a really good start to the year.”

While he’s lost lots of matches that he should have won in his career, the Latvian can still boast, at least for the time being, that he's never lost an ATP final. He’s 3-0 in finals, and only the fourth player to win multiple titles at Delray Beach.

Gulbis will head to Indian Wells next, where he’ll roll the dice in the qualifiers once again.

(Photo Credit: AP)