Ernests Gulbis moves past injury-stricken Michael Llodra into 3rd round – Rogers Cup 2011
Entered as a wildcard in the tournament, Ernest Gulbis of Latvia continues his brilliant run in the Rogers Cup, defeating the world number 33, Michael Llodra of France, in the second round on Wednesday.
The contest took place at the Uniprix Stadium in Montreal, Canada, as part of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Masters Series. Gulbis was declared victorious in the second set of the contest, as the unseeded Frenchman
withdrew from the game due to his shoulder injury, letting the Latvian through to the round of 16 of the tournament.
Gulbis bagged the opening set in an authoritative manner and was off to a flyer in the second set as well but his opponent abandoned the matchup for the reason of his sore shoulder. Llodra appeared in discomfort right from the
beginning of the contest and failed to put up a decent fight in the contest before finally withdrawing.
The Latvian secured 13 out of 14 first serve points in the matchup, while Llodra excelled over him by bagging 24 out of 36 points to finish on the losing end. Five costly double faults from the French on the most crucial moments
wore him out in the opening set. The Latvian competitor crafted a total of 11 break opportunities in the curtailed version of the game and converted two of them before his opponent called out of the matchup in the second set.
Gulbis got hold of the opening set with a cracking serve break in the third game to lead 3-1 early. Injury-stricken Llodra failed to recover from the early damage done by the Latvian and eventually submitted in the 10 game to bestow
the first set to Gulbis at 4-6.
Signs of fatigue were evident from Llodra’s body at the start of the second set and he dropped his serve in the very first game to trail 0-1. The French then called off the contest and signalled to the chair umpire that he was
in no position to continue playing the game. Llodra’s withdrawal sent Gulbis into the third round of Rogers Cup, where he will take on either the ninth seeded Mardy Fish for a place in the quarter-finals.
It was the second time that Gulbis has overwhelmed Llodra in singles encounter, with the last victory being in 2008 at Roland Garros, when the Latvian defeated him in straight sets 6-4, 7-6(4), 6-3, to make it into the quarter-final
rounds of the Grand Slam tournament. He now leads the individual head-to-head series against Llodra by 2-0 after winning the Wednesday’s matchup.
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