Tommy Haas loses to Ernests Gulbis in the first round – US Open 2012
Former world number two, Tommy Haas of Germany, could not make his 15th appearance at the Flushing Meadows memorable, as he went out in the opening round for the first time at the final Grand Slam event of the season,
the US Open.
Haas squandered two sets to love lead to lose to Latvia’s Ernests Gulbis 3-6, 4-6, 6-4, 7-5, 6-3 after a battle of three hours and 44 minutes.
The German contender and his Latvian rival held their serve in the opening seven games to take the score to 4-3 in favour of the former. Haas snatched a break in the following one and made the most of it to win 6-3.
The 34-year-old struck in the very first game of the second set and held his subsequent serve to attain a 2-0 advantage. Though, Gulbis broke back in the sixth to square off the proceedings at 3-3. The German lost only a single
point in the next two games, sealing it 6-4.
Haas and Gulbis held their opening serves to equalise the score at 1-1. The German went into a winning position by nailing a break in the third and consolidating on it to go up 3-1. However, Haas could not sustain his lead, losing
five of the following six games to go down 4-6.
In the fourth set, both players went neck to neck in the first 11 games to take the score to 6-5 in favour of Gulbis. Serving to stay in the set at that moment, Haas could not hold and lost it 5-7.
After the score getting tied at two sets all, Gulbis needed a single breakthrough in the decider to capture it 6-3.
Talking to the media people at the end of the contest, the Latvian said, "Mindset is that you don’t care anymore. You’re two sets down, you’re a break down. You simply don’t care. Then magic happens suddenly. You win a break back,
you win a set and you’re back in the match."
On the other hand, Haas shared, "I think I let it slip away a little bit in the third. That 3-2 game in the third it's going to stay with me for a little bit for sure. Just got a little bit tight, a little bit nervous trying to
consolidate that break. Made a few bad errors that you can't allow yourself to happen. Sort of gave him a chance to come back."
Gulbis is slated to play the American youngster, Steve Johnson, in the second round.
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