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Exciting Latvian star tennis Ernests Gulbis set up an intriguing clash with top seed Juan Martin Del Potro after a three-set victory at the Heineken Open today.
Gulbis had too many guns today for Spain's Marcel Granollers, winning 6-4 6-7 6-1, and will meet fellow 20-year-old Del Potro, who went through automatically to the second round as top seed.
The Latvian oozed talent against Granollers, demonstrating the big serve and audacious ground shots which have seen many commentators predict he will improve on his world ranking of 51 very quickly.
He probably should have beaten Granollers in straight sets after going a break up in the second set but allowed the Spaniard back into the set with a late break and lost a tiebreaker.
"I lost a little bit of concentration in the second set. I felt good being a break up and felt like I was going to finish quickly," Gulbis admitted.
"Last year I lost some tough matches when I had a chance to close the match down. At least I got my concentration back for the third set."
Gulbis made the French Open quarterfinals last year, losing to world number three Novak Djokovic, and last week he beat Djokovic in Brisbane.
He has yet to play Del Potro, rated nine in the world, in an ATP event but is hopeful of beating the Argentine, one of the fastest risers in the rankings last year after winning four titles.
"He is a good player but it will be his first match of the year and that will be tough for him."
The Gulbis-Del Potro match-up shapes as the highlight of day t hree at the Heineken Open along with a rematch between last year's finalists Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany and Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain.
Defending champion Kohlschreiber was on court for just 52 minutes against former double champion Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia this morning but still got more court time in the first round than Ferrero, whose Japanese opponent Kei Nishikori withdrew with an injured arm before the first set was completed.
The German came his match today with a shoulder injury but appeared oblivious to it as he thrashed Hrbaty 6-1 6-2. The first set was over in 20 minutes and despite the dual former champion fighting back in the second set, the German's serve and ground strokes proved too much.
"I didn't play the last two days but the shoulder is getting better," Kohlschreiber said.
"I expected a very tough game today but I started to play very well. I'm looking forward to my next match."
Hrbaty, who entered the tournament via a wildcard after his ranking fell last year due to injury, said he was feeling the effects of a tough week in Perth, where he was up at 4am for four consecutive days.
But he said his engagement straight after the Hopman Cup had not impacted on his tennis.
"We didn't get to celebrate it at all. With this tournament there was no time for a celebration."
The second round will feature three of the four qualifiers. Two of the four, Gilles Muller of Luxembourg and John Isner of the United States, beat men who qualified automatically for the main draw, while Bobby Reynolds of the United States is also through after beating fellow qualifier Oscar Hernandez of Spain.
Muller, a US Open quarterfinalist last year, was too powerful for Frenchman Florent Serra 6-3 6-4, while Isner became the first man to topple a seeded player when he beat seventh seed Albert Montanes of Spain in two sets.
Muller faces another big server, American sixth seed Sam Querrey, in the second round, while Isner faces fellow American Robby Ginepri.
In other matches, Taiwan's Yen-Hsun Lu beat Belgium's Steve Darcis 7-6 6-2 and Frenchman Marc Gicquel beat Agustin Calleri of Argentina 3-6 6-4 6-4.
Both will face seeded Spaniards in the second round. Lu faces fourth seed Nicolas Almagro, while Gicquel faces the second seed and 2007 champion David Ferrer.
- NZPA
