Gulbis Upsets Berdych, Sets Up Djokovic Semis

Gulbis Upsets Berdych, Sets Up Djokovic Semis

Tuesday, June 3, 2014 6:57 pm


Ernests Gulbis of Latvia followed his upset of Roger Federer with another upset win over Tomas Berdych, earning himself a first semi-final at the French Open where he will face second seed Novak Djokovic.

Ernests Gulbis during his match against Berdych [via @RolandGarros]

Gulbis had defeated the Czech sixth seed in their only previous grand slam meeting back at the 2012 Wimbledon and the Latvian maintained that little record with an impressive 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 win in Paris.

Berdych was in trouble from the off as Gulbis got the first break in serve to take a 3-0 lead, a lead which the Latvian maintained to take the first set easily, with the second set going much the same way for Gulbis who went on to wrap a fifth straight grand slam win against a seeded player.

Speaking after the win, Gulbis stated ”it took me a while to understand that happiness can only come from doing my job and work hard. I dont want to be over-excited and be overwhelmed by thoughts, I need to keep cruising alone.”

The 18th seed will now face Djokovic in the semi-final after the Serbian second seed won two tie-breakers to overcome Canadian eighth seed Milos Raonic 7-5, 7-6, 6-4.

Djokovic pumps a fist [via @RolandGarros]

It was not till the 11th game before Djokovic was able to edge the opening set on tie-break and the Serbian needed another tie-break to overcome his Canadian opponent in the second set.

Having never lost in all his previous matches against Canadian players (5-0), Djokovic broke serve in the third set and was heading to seal the match when Raonic broke back at 4-5.

Djokovic though would see out the third set 6-4 to reach his sixth semi-final at Roland Garros.


Join The Conversation

What do you think?

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.