Ernests Gulbis defeated Ivo Karlovic on Sunday at the Delray Beach International Championships at Delray Beach, FL, on Sunday, making him the first Latvian to win a title on the ATP tour. Ivo Karlovic from Croatia, ranked at #33, was second seed and lost 6-2, 6-3 on his 31st birthday.
The conditions were windy and gave Karlovic a hard time. He's known for his serve but the wind kept him from dominating. He managed to lose serve in games 5 and 7 of set 1, and 3 and 9 in set 2, something not often seen from Karlovic. Gulbis, won 19 out of 26 points against him on Karlovic's second serve. He was one of the only players during the tournament who played that way against the 6' 10" Croatian.
Gulbis, ranked #72, didn't lose a set in the entire tournament. He also won 45 of the 48 service games he played this week, over 5 matches. He got into the Memphis semifinals just last week, and will see his rank rise to somewhere in the top 40 now that he's won his first title.
Gulbis said that statistics don't impress him and that not losing a set doesn’t seem that big an accomplishment to him, but he is impressed that he won the title and that he plays for his country first and foremost. To him, winning the title is the big accomplishment, not how many sets were won or lost. Whether it impresses him or not, another statistic shows that he's the second player this year to make his first appearance in a title tournament and win. The first this year to do that was John Isner, who won in Auckland in January.
Karlovic wasn't bitter about the defeat but instead joked, saying that he'd like to thank him for the birthday gift. Then he admitted that he played well and that he was a clean winner, with everything touching his racket being "unbelievable." Karlovic, who has won 4 career titles, also said that Gulbis was cool and calm, and suspected that he was going to make a breakthrough this year. Gulbis played a by-the-book game of great tennis, only having to save 2 break points in game 4.
In doubles, Mike and Bob Bryan, the defending champions in this tournament, clinched their 58th career title and 600th career win at the Delray Beach International and moved up to spot #2 on the Open Era list for doubles titles. They defeated Slovakian Igor Zelenay and German Philipp Marx 6-3, 7-6(3) and broke a 3-way tie.
Mike and Bob Bryan only need 4 more wins to break the record set by Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge of Australia who currently hold the record of 61 career wins. The American brothers have win 8 Grand Slam titles in their career, with the most recent from January at the Australian Open. That marked the 4th time they've won the Australian Open in the past 5 years.
Photo Credits: chascow
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