Gulbis Finally Breaks Through

Ernests Gulbis, another one of my Latvian brethren, advanced to the third round of a tournament for the first time in THIRTY-TWO tries, beating Juan Monaco  6-3, 4-1 ret. in the second round of the in Tokyo.

After reaching the quarterfinals of the Cincinnati Masters event in 2008, Gulbis ascended to a career-high ranking of #38.  He had been on the up and up for some time, making the fourth round of the 2007 US Open and the quarterfinals of the 2008 French Open.   He was also the only player besides Roger Federer to take a set off Rafael Nadal on Nadal's way to the 2008 Wimbledon title, a resume that indicated an impressive ability to threaten the best players on any surface.  Now that he had broken into the top forty, Gulbis looked like a lock to continue deep runs at major tournaments, and to rise into the ranks of seeded players.

But it didn't quite work out that way. 

Gulbis didn't make another quarterfinal (or main draw third round) for over a year, a precipitous fall that sent him out of the top 100.  For a player

It wasn't that Gulbis couldn't win any matches.  In eighteen of the thirty-two tournaments, he won his first round match.  But he was a jaw-dropping 0-18 in his eighteen previous second-round matches, a number so absurd that it indicates an entirely mental issue.  Only eight of the eighteen second-round losses were in straight sets, which indicates that more often than not the gap in ability between Gulbis and his opponent was less than enormous.

So what caused this second round breakthrough for Gulbis? There are two possible reasons, as far as I can see:

1. The change may also be Hernan Gumy
2. Gulbis was simply lucky to face an injured opponent in the second round, and if Monaco had been at 100% the streak would have continued.

If he keeps this up, maybe he can give Anastasija Sevastova a run for her money in the race to be the highest-ranked Latvian.

Stay tuned to The Daily Forehand next week for our interview with Gulbis.