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Giantkiller Gulbis adds Berdych to Federer scalp
Giantkiller Gulbis adds Berdych to Federer scalp
AFP/Paris
Ernests Gulbis followed up his shock French Open defeat of Roger Federer with a straight sets dismissal of sixth seed Tomas Berdych yesterday to reach his first Grand Slam semi-final. The 25-year-old Latvian, better known for his colourful behaviour and outspoken comments off the court than his achievements on it, stormed to a 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 win. |
The 18th seed will face second seed Novak Djokovic for a place in Sunday’s final.
Yesterday’s win made Gulbis the second most successful match winner of 2013 -- he now has 32 wins with just Rafael Nadal ahead of him on 38.
“This is very special, I am very happy to share it with you,” said Gulbis.
“It was my best match of the tournament so far. Everything worked. Tomas was getting angry because I was hitting the lines all the time but, sorry, that’s part of the sport.”
Gulbis has a 1-4 record against Djokovic with whom he once trained when they were youngsters in Munch. Their first meeting was in the French Open quarter-finals in 2008 when Djokovic won in straight sets, the pair’s only previous clash on clay.
Berdych admitted he had played probably his worst match of the two weeks in Paris yesterday.
“He was solid today, he didn’t have to bring anything special. I was not in the shape to cause him any damage,” said Berdych.
“The way I was playing there was no way I could win. It was pretty bad. It was my fifth match in two weeks. You need to be ready for the whole two weeks and if you have the kind of day I had today you have no chance to get a good result.”
Gulbis went into yesterday’s meeting with the 2010 semi-finalist trailing the Czech 4-2 in career matches. But he had already defeated the big Czech in straight sets in the first round at Wimbledon two years ago.
As he had done in his five-set triumph against Federer, Gulbis unleashed a free-swinging, big-serving barrage and after racing into a 4-0 lead in the first set, he never looked back.
Breaks in the first and fifth games of the second set against a wilting Berdych put him firmly in control.
One more break in the first game of the third set was enough for Gulbis.
Berdych saved a match point with an ace in the ninth game but Gulbis’s 10th ace of the match took him to two further match points in the next. And the victory was his when Berdych netted a return.
Djokovic tames Raonic serve
Djokovic stayed firmly on course to win his first French Open title as he tamed big-serving Canadian Milos Raonic 7-5, 7-6 (7/4), 6-4 to reach the semi-finals. The Serb world number two is only missing the Roland Garros trophy to complete his Grand Slam career set.
“It was very complicated against his serve which is so precise and powerful but I’m really happy,” said the six-time Grand Slam title winner.
“It was difficult to return and important for me to keep concentration but I’m delighted to be in the semi-finals.”
The 27-year-old from Belgrade reached his sixth semi-final in Paris, the third best tally in the Open era, as he made it three wins out of three against Raonic, following Rome in May and a Davis Cup semi-final in 2013.
He will now play 18th seed Ernests Gulbis for a place in the final after the Latvian eliminated Czech Republic sixth seed Tomas Berdych 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.
(Ernests) Gulbis is a very good player, he beat Roger (Federer) and now (Tomas) Berdych in three sets which is really impressive. He’s playing his best tennis so it’s going to be an important match for me,” he added. The first set went with serve until Djokovic forced the decisive break at 6-5 to take the opener in 50 minutes.
Raonic, who was bidding to become the first Canadian man to reach the French Open semi-finals, only created one break point on the Djokovic serve which he failed to covert in the first two sets.
Again the second set went to serve with neither player facing a break point heading into the tie-break. The second set tie-breaker was poised at 4-4 before the Serb reeled off three straight points to take a stranglehold on the match at two sets up.
While Raonic fired down 15 aces and 34 winners over the first two sets, but his 29 unforced errors were his downfall.
The first Canadian man in the Open era to reach a Grand Slam quarter-final, suffered his second break of serve to open the third set as Djokovic raced into a 5-1 lead.
However despite Raonic delaying the inevitable by breaking the Serb’s serve for the first time, it was too little too late as Djokovic served out for the match at the second time of asking.