Welcome to the clay season, Mr. Federer. On Tuesday, No. 40-ranked Ernests Gulbis stunned the top-ranked Roger Federer 2-6, 6-1, 7-5 in his first match on clay at the ATP Rome Masters 1000, marking the first time since 2001 that the world No. 1 has exited prior to the quarters of three straight tournaments.
After opening the year with his fourth Australian Open title (def. Andy Murray), the Swiss was knocked out in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open by Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis 5-7, 7-5, 7-6(4), and Czech Tomas Berdych cut Federer’s stay short at the Sony Ericsson Open with a 6-4, 6-7(3), 7-6(6) upset in the fourth round.
Federer, who fell to 13-4 on the year, struggled from the service stripe against Gulbis, landing just 56 percent of his first serves, and totaling 38 unforced errors in damp conditions at the Foro Italico.
“My game wasn’t up to speed,” Federer told reporters. “My serve wasn’t working. I couldn’t get my first serve in. It was a frustrating end to the match. That’s the way it goes sometimes.”
Gulbis got off to a slow start, but, deadlocked at 1-1 in the second set, the Latvian reeled off five consecutive games to take the stanza. Federer managed to stave off six match points in the third before Gulbis put the match away in two hours and three minutes, undoubtedly the biggest top-10 win of his career.
“I was shocked after the match,” said Gulbis. “It’s a great feeling — indescribable.”
The 6-foot-3 Gulbis has proved an enigma since he turned pro in 2004. Analysts heaped expectations on his shoulders by repeatedly grouping the 21-year-old with fellow athletic big men Juan Martin Del Potro and Marin Cilic, but despite an at-times monstrous game, he never seemed to be able to play with any level of consistency. But after signing on with Argentine Hernan Gumy last September, he slowly began to turn things around. Earlier this year, he reached the quarters in Doha (where he lost to Federer), and after back-to-back first-round losses at the Aussie Open and San Jose, he reached his first ATP semi in Memphis. A week later, he captured his first ATP title in Delray Beach via a 6-2, 6-3 win over Ivo Karlovic.
Pressroom prognosticators smirked when, prior to the match, the defending French Open champ Federer once again insisted that he would not be the favorite heading into Paris come May. But with results like these (he hasn’t dropped a 6-1 set since ’09 Indian Wells), he’s sounding more convincing every day.
