GULBIS WINS A MATCH (!!!), BUT NOW HAS TO FACE THIEM BY RICKY DIMON

Written by: Staff on 20th May 2015

GULBIS WINS A MATCH (!!!), BUT NOW HAS TO FACE THIEM BY RICKY DIMON

epa04702762 Ernests Gulbis of Latvia in action against Andreas Haider-Maurer of Austria during their first round match at the Monte Carlo Rolex Masters tournament in Roquebrune Cap Martin, France, 13 April 2015. EPA/SEBASTIEN NOGIER |

Tennis fans may have been doing double-takes when they took a gander at Wednesday’s results on the ATP Tour. That’s because Ernests Gulbis was shown to have defeated Alexandr Dolgopolov 7-5, 4-6, 6-1 in the second round of the Open de Nice Cote d’Azur.

But believe it. Because it’s true.

Gulbis picked up his second match win of the entire season and first over an opponent who was not a lucky loser when he got the best of Dolgopolov after two hours and eight minutes of play. The 25th-ranked Latvian had been 1-11 for his 2015 campaign, with just a single victory over lucky loser Daniel Gimeno-Traver in Indian Wells. But the good feelings appear to be back in Nice, where Gulbis captured the title last year.

“There are still a lot of things that I need to work on,” the 2014 French Open semifinalist assured. “The past three weeks have been really tough practice-wise. A lot of things weren’t working the way I’m used to…. My best memories of my game were from the beginning of last year until the end of Roland Garros. Since then, I didn’t have really good results and I didn’t really feel well on the court because of different reasons; because of shoulder problems, because of some other reasons…. Slowly it’s going to change. I need to win these kinds of matches.”

Dominic Thiem of Austria celebrates after winning against Fabio Fognini of Italy during their second round match at the BMW Open tennis tournament in Munich, Germany, 30 April 2015. EPA/MARC MUELLER

But now he needs to beat good friend and frequent hitting partner Dominic Thiem if Gulbis wants to reach the semifinals. Although they do not train together as often as when Gulbis was coached by Gunter Bresnik (who still works with Thiem), the two players did hit with each other earlier this week in Nice under Bresnik’s watchful eye.

Thiem has won both of their previous encounters at the ATP main-draw level. The 21-year-old Austrian capitalized on an injured Gulbis to prevail 4-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 at the 2014 U.S. Open before cruising 6-4, 6-2 earlier this season on the indoor hard courts of Rotterdam. Gulbis has, however, defeated Thiem once before; 6-4, 6-3 during qualification at the 2012 Winston-Salem event.

Current form obviously favors Thiem. The world No. 42 has now won multiple matches in three consecutive tournaments (Munich and Rome included) after beating Victor Estrella Burgos and Nick Kyrgios earlier this week. Thiem, a quarterfinalist in Miami, led Kyrgios 4-3 with a break on Wednesday when the Austrian retired because of a right elbow injury.

“There is not much to say about the match,” Thiem wrote on his Facebook page after it ended. “The seven games we played were pretty solid. Nick injured his arm somehow in the seventh game, but I don’t really know what happened. It’s a pity that he injured himself and that we had to cancel the match so early. Nevertheless, I am very glad about reaching the quarterfinals. Greetings from Nice! #bamos #getwellsoonNick”.

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand.

Topics: Atp, Dominic Thiem, Ernests Gulbis, Nice, Ricky Dimon, Tennis News

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10sBalls_com says:

May 20, 2015 at 2:33 pm

#GULBIS WINS A MATCH (!!!), BUT NOW HAS TO FACE @ThiemDomi BY @Dimonator- http://t.co/kwYJ8ACTxd @egulbisfans #ATPNice #tennis #Thiem
Dimonator says:

May 20, 2015 at 5:02 pm

RT @10sBalls_com: #GULBIS WINS A MATCH (!!!), BUT NOW HAS TO FACE @ThiemDomi BY @Dimonator- http://t.co/kwYJ8ACTxd @egulbisfans #ATPNice #t…
MegaLuone says:

May 20, 2015 at 6:09 pm

RT @10sBalls_com: #GULBIS WINS A MATCH (!!!), BUT NOW HAS TO FACE @ThiemDomi BY @Dimonator- http://t.co/kwYJ8ACTxd @egulbisfans #ATPNice #t…
AlexusJonesUSA says:

May 20, 2015 at 6:24 pm

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