Marcel Granollers outlasts Ernests Gulbis in the third round – Winston-Salem Open 2012
Sixth seed, Marcel Granollers of Spain, survived the loss of first set to rally past the Latvian qualifier, Ernests Gulbis, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, in the round of 16 at the Winston-Salem Open on Wednesday. The Spaniard required two hours
to undo his opponent in a hard-fought contest.
Granollers did not make a good start, losing his serve in the very first game and failing to make a break back to go down 0-2. Gulbis maintained his lead till the end to win 6-4.
The Latvian smacked three aces and a couple of double faults, keeping his first serve percentage at 61 and converting 16 of the 22 of them into points in the opener. The 6ft 3in tall could not reply properly to his rival’s first
serves, as he dropped 16 of the 18 points on them but compensated a bit by winning four of the six on the second ones.
Gulbis and Granollers held their serve in the first three games of the second set to take the score to 2-1 in the latter’s favour. The Spaniard struck in the fourth and consolidated on it to attain a 4-1 lead. Granollers did not
allow the Latvian player to stage a comeback and grabbed it 6-3.
The Barcelona, Spain resident banged in two aces and made three double faults in the second set. The 26-yer-old fared pretty well on the first serves and second returns, as he claimed 17 of the 24 and four of the nine points on
them respectively.
After levelling the match score at one set apiece, Granollers came roaring in the decider, nailing breakthroughs in the first and third game to move ahead 4-0. The Spanish participant maintained his lead till the end, closing it
6-2.
Granollers hit a single ace and committed the same number of double faults in the final set. The 25th ranked player gave a solid performance on the first deliveries, keeping the percentage on 71 and pocketing 14 of the
17 points on them.
The Spaniard will lock horns with the top seed, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France, at the last-eight stage.
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