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Ernests Gulbis Stuns Roger Federer In Rome


Rome ATP Masters 1000
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- Order of Play
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Stuttgart WTA Tournament
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Photos: © Henk Abbink

(April 27, 2010)  It was an open and shut down day for Roger Federer.

Federer helped cut the ribbon to officially open the new centre court at the Foro Italico today.

Then Ernests Gulbis unloaded a series of sledgehammer serves to hit the World No. 1 right out of Rome.

On a dreary, drizzly day that created heavy conditions on the red clay, the 21-year-old Latvian lashed ambitious groundstrokes to back up a bold serve in dumping Federer out of the Rome Masters, 2-6, 6-1, 7-5 in two hours, three minutes.

GulbisfinalHenkAbbink


Gulbis, who took a set off Federer in their first career clash in the Doha quarterfinals in January before bowing 6-2, 4-6, 6-4, smacked five of his eight aces in the third set and showed little restraint even on match points. Gulbis has reached four quarterfinals this season and will seek to continue his march in Rome when he plays either Julien Benneteau or Italian wild card Filippo Volandri in the third round.

It marked the first time Federer has fallen in his first tournament match since he lost to  Benneteau in the Paris Indoors last fall.

The reigning Roland Garros champion saw his preparation for his French Open defense sputter. Federer had advanced to at least the quarterfinals in three of his last four appearances in Rome.

Playing his first clay-court singles match of the season, Federer got off to a sound start before Gulbis amped up his game and reeled off five consecutive games to seize the second set and level the match.

A streaky Federer played well at the outset, but struggled to find the range on his first serve and forehand in the final set and found himself forced on the defensive by the big-hitting Gulbis, who continued to blast the ball even after blowing six match points and a 5-3 lead.

Federer squandered match points in his Masters Series losses to Marcos Baghdatis (in Indian Wells in March) and Tomas Berdych (in Miami in March) and this time fought off match points in the dramatic ninth and 10th games of the final set, but it wasn't enough to spark a successful comeback.

The Gulbis two-handed backhand is his most lethal ground stroke and he consistently pummeled backhands to corner Federer on his backhand side. With Federer confined to the backhand corner, Gulbis opened the court with a backhand down the line then blistered a backhand winner crosscourt. Federer followed steering a backhand down the line long to give Gulbis his first two match points at 3-5.

Federer saved the first as Gulbis missed a backhand return down the line. Confronting a second serve, Gulbis opened the court  with a forehand down the line but over hit an open court forehand and it was deuce. Federer who missed eight straight first serves in the game, hit a forehand winner down the line to hold for 4-5.

In the 10th game, Federer eyed a wide open expanse of court, but with Gulbis well out of range, Federer dragged a forehand down the line well wide of the sideline to hand Gulbis two more match points as Federer's mother, Lynette, IMG agent, Tony Godsick, and coach, Severin Luthi, all looked on with deep concern from the support box.

The match was on Gulbis' racket, but he imploded in impetuousness.

Gulbis, who served proficiently throughout the final set, went for a huge second serve and missed it to blow his third match point. A 12-shot rally ended with Gulbis clanging a forehand long and two points later Gulbis again missed the mark by two feet with a forehand to squander his fifth match point.

Gulbis, who had been hammering serves down the middle all set, switched it up and slid
an ace out wide for a sixth match point only to double fault again. That double fault proved too tough to shake off as Gulbis missed a mid-court overhead wide than sprayed an inside-out forehand wide.

Federer had broken back for 5-all and the Rome fans began to rhythmically clap and chant the names of both players.

Rather than taking advantage of that gift, a philanthropic Federer gave the break right back.

Continuously missing his first serve, Federer mis-fired on successive forehands as Guilbis broke back for 6-5.

This time, Gulbis refused to tighten.

Federer put a meek backhand return into net and Gulbis, again keeping Federer off balance with the direction of his serve, sliced a service winner wide to gain his seventh match point at 40-0.

Two-time Rome finalist Federer has never won the Italian Open and his title drought will continue at least for another year as he netted a backhand on the seventh match point.

Gulbis, who won back-to-back matches only twice in 2009, continues his break-out season.

He captured his first career ATP Tour title at Delray Beach without dropping a set in February and today the 40th-ranked Latvian showed the skills that make him a potential top-10 player.

Working with coach Hernan Gumy since last year has helped Gulbis stabilize his emotions on court and smarten his shot selection. He's no longer the baseline gun slinger prone to imploding when his groundstrokes go askew. Gumy, a former Argentine pro, has a history of helping impetuous players. He worked with Marat Safin in the later stages of the two-time Grand Slam champions career and the progress Gulbis has made with Gumy was evident today.

During his run to the Delray Beach title, Gulbis kept almost constant eye contact with Gumy, but in the latter stages of today's match, Gulbis looked within to close out one of his biggest wins.

Like Safin, Gulbis oozes the type of natural power that can make even the hardest-hitting opponents looked positively pedestrian in comparison and like Safin, Gulbis has been known to play without conscience and try to blast his way out of trouble. Gumy has not only urged Gulbis to play more considerate tennis, he's tried to teach him to learn from his mistakes and make immediate corrections on court rather than after the match.

"I think (Gumy has helped me with) more consistency from the baseline," Gulbis said in Delray. "Actually, he's helped every aspect from my game. My shots were a bit out of something and if I made a mistake I really didn't know why I made it. Now, I know how to make it better. Basically it's not one thing — it's everything. He's a really good coach."

Gulbis' talent for tennis is unquestioned — he reached the St. Petersburg semifinals in his ATP main draw debut in 2006 and advanced to the Roland Garros quarterfinals two years later — it is his work ethic and mental game that have been question marks in the past.

Asked what he needs to do to to continue his rise and exceed his career-high rank of No. 38, Gulbis replied: "I'm doing it now, I think. I'm trying to play with more consistency."


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