2011 Medibank International: Ernests Gulbis and Richard Gasquet reach final-8
The 22-year-old Ernests Gulbis of Latvia has made his way into the quarterfinal round of the 2011 Medibank International Sydney on Wednesday.
The right-hander thrashed out Igor Andreev from Russia in three sets to confirm his quarterfinal spot in Sydney. Gulbis won 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 in a match that last over two hours.
World number 24 Gulbis who made his debut on the ATP tour back in 2004, did not have a perfect start to the match. He lost his serve on two occasions in the first set and thus lost it 2-6.
However, after losing the opening set, the Latvian did well to improve his game and broke Igor once in the second as well as third set to emerge victorious in the end. He blasted seventeen aces to get past his foe on Wednesday.
Gulbis, as a result of this victory, will next take on Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine in the quarters. The Ukrainian reached the final-eight round after posting a two setter win over Guillermo Garcia-Lopez with a score line of 6-3, 6-4.
Tournament’s top seed Richard Gasquet fought hard to cruise past his Italian opponent Andreas Seppi in three sets earlier in the day. The final match score was 3-6, 7-5, 6-4.
Richard, as a result of this victory, has also made his way into the quarters where he will take on Viktor Troicki, the fourth seeded Serbian, on Thursday. Viktor advanced into the final-eight round after getting the better of Juan Ignacio Chela in straight
sets. The Serbian converted four of his eleven break point chances to seal win in the end.
Meanwhile, German Florian Mayer dispatched off former US Open Champion Juan Martin del Potro in just over 60 minutes. He won 6-2, 7-5.
“You could see he is not 100 per cent. His serve is really strong, but from the baseline he missed a lot… But I really played well from the baseline. I knew when I played my game I had a good chance to win today, and I took it,” said Mayer after the match.
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