Ernests Gulbis makes it through in the opening round at the LA Open
The much awaited Farmers Classic also known as the Los Angeles Open has begun in California, America. This tournament is a part of the ATP World Tour and many top players are taking part in this competition. The British professional tennis player and world number four, Andy Murray, is the top seed. Along with Murray, other good players such as the American player Sam Querrey and Cypriot professional tennis player Marcos Baghdatis will also be participating at this event.
One of the opening round matches has already taken place between the Latvian tennis player, Ernests Gulbis, and Slovakia’s Lukas Lacko. Gulbis took down Lacko in straight sets, 7-5 7-5. It was a tough and raging battle between these two youthful players. Gulbis admits to the fact that winning this match was not an easy task but the fact that he managed to do so is great. He says that his game was not up to mark on hard courts and that he was not feeling the ball properly, however, now that the match is over he does not care how he played, what is important is that he got through the first hurdle.
During the match, Gulbis broke Lacko’s serve three times and confirmed his triumph over his opponent in a time period of one hour and fourty-one minutes. The Latvian player fired eleven aces during the match and it got quite challenging for him because he was having difficulty keeping the game under his control, but by the end of it all, the Slovakian player had more trouble keeping up his game and finally suffered a defeat.
Earnests Gulbis is the fifth seeded player at the LA Open. Along with this he is also the youngest player to be participating at this grand event. In February this year, Gulbis won his first ATP Tour singles title at Delray Beach, where he beat the Croatian player, Ivo Karlovic. The highlights of this young player’s tennis career are that he reached the fourth round at the 2007 US Open and advanced to the quarterfinals at the 2008 French Open, which is the furthest he has gotten in any Grand Slam tournament up till now. In addition to this, he has also appeared in several ATP World Tour semi-finals.
This twenty-one year old Latvian has been on a break from playing tennis since the French Open in May this year. He suffered a serious hamstring injury at the Grand Slam due to which he was not able to play for quite some time. However, Gulbis’ recovery has been a success and the LA Tennis Centre has been the first tournament he has participated in since May. He is in good form which is evident by his opening match performance against Lacko.
Next up on the agenda for Gulbis will be playing against either the Colombian player, Alejandro Falla, or the Slovakian player, Karol Beck. Making his way to the second round of the tournament is quite an achievement for the youngest player in the draw and if he manages to keep up his performances he will go far.
Furthermore, in other first round matches Germany’s Rainer Schuettler also made it to the second round when he won the match against the Seventh seeded Argentinean, Horacio Zeballos. Zebellos withdrew from the match due an injury in his left shoulder when the score had been 6-3 3-0 leaving the victory to Schuettler.
The champion of the LA Open will be going home with an ATP Tour Tournament title and will be given prize money of $619,500, both of which are extremely intriguing awards for any professional tennis player.
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