Ernests Gulbis upsets Juan Martin Del Potro in the quarterfinal – Farmers Classic 2011
In perhaps the biggest upset so far at the Farmers Classic in Los Angeles, underdog Ernests Gulbis took down favourite second seed Juan Martin Del Potro in a two set 6-2, 6-4 win leaving everyone in the stands flabbergasted. The
Latvian Gulbis effortlessly took down his more experienced opponent in under one hour and forty minutes and secured a berth for himself in the Los Angeles US Open Series Tournament’s semi final round.
The world No. 84 Gulbis had come into the tournament with a 9-14 win loss standing, misleading critics to write him off the serious contenders’ list. With this win, Gulbis’ number of semi finals played this year goes to a feeble
2 but since he has a hard court title at Delray Beach 2010, we can expect great things from the Latvian at the Farmers Classic. Gulbis’ Los Angeles campaign had been off to a spectacular start; in his first round match won against fifth seed Xavier Malisse
in three sets and continued to obliterate American college standout and qualifier Daniel Kosakowski.
Argentina’s Del Potro, ranked at an impressive No. 19 was statistically the outright favourite to win the match. The two players have met twice in the past, with Del Potro winning both the games at Memphis and Auckland effortlessly.
He however deleteriously failed to replicate his past performance in Friday’s match and suffered a humiliating defeat to the underdog. The winner of two ATP titles this year - at Delray Beach and Estoril had received a bye in the first round of the Los Angeles
Tournament and had proceeded to fight a pitched battle against American James Blake in the tournament’s second round.
Gulbis opened the game on a defiant note, surprising his opponent by breaking Del Potro’s serve in the very first game of the opening set. Limiting Del Potro to just 15 points in that first game Gulbis raced ahead with a 2-0 lead.
The match remained pretty much lopsided, with the Latvian pretty much in control throughout. The first set saw an eager Gulbis fire 4 aces, while serving at 63%. He managed to win 83% of the first points of these serves. Del Potro meanwhile disappointed his
fans by not being able to set up even one breakpoint opportunity against his opponent. The Latvian powered through the set with a blatant 6-2 win by registering another break of serve in the 5th game.
The second set followed precedent; however Del Potro offered a little more competition to his powerful opponent this time around. Gulbis successfully converted two breakpoints against his opponent’s 1. Del Potro was sent packing
with the score line at an impressive 6-4 in Gulbis’ favour.
A confident and flamboyant Gulbis will now meet American Alex Bogomolov Jr. in their top-four round match. Bogomolov too had managed an upset of his own in his quarter final match on Friday against fourth seed Thomaz Bellucci,
winning in three sets.
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