Ernests Gulbis upsets Mardy Fish to clinch title win – Farmer’s Classic 2011
Sheer surprise for the tennis fans all over the world as the new world number eight, Mardy Fish of the United States, crashed out of the final of Farmer’s Classic, falling to the unseeded Latvian competitor, Ernests Gulbis on Sunday.
Being played at the Los Angeles Tennis Center on the campus of UCLA, the United States, the home favourite Fish toiled hard for two hours and forty three minutes before he surrendered in the third set to lose the title. Gulbis
wrapped up victory at 5-7, 6-4, 6-4, to stun the top seeded American in the game and bagged his first ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) singles title of the year.
Fish was off to a brilliant start in the game and took the opening set early to get the advantage. The resilient Latvian bounced back valiantly at Fish and reeled off the next two sets register his 14th victory in the
running ATP season. Rated at number 55 in the world rankings, Gulbis displayed hard-court tennis skills far better than his rankings suggest to outplay the world number eight American in front of his home crowd.
“It’s just a huge boost in confidence,” said Gulbis, who entered the tournament on a five-match losing streak. “I lost trust in myself that I can compete with the best guys. I knew it, but I was up and down. Mardy is a great player,
and to beat him, now I’ve got my confidence back.”
Fish, who won Atlanta Tennis Championships last week, failed to keep his focus in the later parts of the game and eventually fell in the third set. He fired 14 aces in the matchup, while the Latvian winner followed him with 10
aces and seven double faults in the entire matchup. Fish cruised through the opening set with one serve break to lead the competition 1-0.
Tide turned in the very next set when the unseeded Gulbis blasted at him with a series of foray to clinch the remaining two sets at 6-4, 6-4, to register an emphatic victory over him.
“I was tired and I was fatigued,” said Fish, who also limped on a sore right heel. “I played a lot of matches this past month. He was a wee bit fresher than me. … (Gulbis) has got a big game. He’s very flashy. You can see why he
had some of the results he had last year.”
Although the American lost the final against Gulbis, he still managed to improve his world ranking by one spot, rising to the eighth spot on Monday, August 1st.
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