Ernests Gulbis battles past Andreas Haider-Maurer into the second round – Bet-at-home Cup 2012
Seventh seed Latvian, Ernests Gulbis, escaped a match point to overcome the challenge of world number 149, Andreas Haider-Maurer of Austria, in three sets 2-6, 7-5, 6-1 in the opening round of the Bet-at-home Cup in Kitzbuhel on
Tuesday.
The Latvian took two hours and three minutes to come out victorious from a nail-biting encounter.
Haider-Maurer drew the first blood, as he stung a break in the second game and held his subsequent serve to take a 2-0 lead. Gulbis failed to return back till the end, rather, he lost his serve again in the eighth to go down 2-6.
The Austrian made full use of his big serves, bombarding eight huge aces on his opponent and capturing 14 of the 17 first serve points in the opening set. Haider-Maurer was unable to impress with his second delivery and first return
showing, losing seven of the 14 and eight of the 10 points on them respectively. The 23-year-old, however, made up with the help of his almost flawless performance on the replies to the Latvian’s second serves, securing nine of the 10 points on them.
Haider-Maurer and Gulbis made a stable start in the second set, as they did not drop serve in the opening five games to take the score to 3-2 in the former’s favour. The Austrian got into a winning position by claiming a breakthrough
in the sixth and grabbing his next serve to build a 5-2 lead. However, Haider-Maurer could not close it out in the ninth game, losing his serve and cutting his lead to 5-4. The Austrian received a match point in the 10th but lost the opportunity
and dropped two more games to go down 5-7.
Gulbis faced ups and downs on his serve, banging in four aces but also committing three double faults. The Latvian managed to keep his first serve percentage at 43, converting 13 of the 19 of them into points. The 6ft 3in tall
saved one of the two break points he faced and converted two of the six he received in the second set.
Gulbis made the most of this opportunity after getting a second life, as he played remarkably well in the decider, allowing Haider-Maurer to win only one game till the end and sealing it 6-1.
The Latvian is slated to play the world number 107, Rogerio Dutra Silva of Brazil, in the round of 16.
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