PETE ZIEBRON in CINCINNATI
Mikhail Youzhny in qualification action at the Western & Southern Open. Pete Ziebron Images
Mikhail Youzhny of Russia came back from a set down for the second consecutive day at the Western & Southern Open, this time defeating Ernests Gulbis of Latvia 4-6 6-1 6-4 on Court 10 to gain qualification into the Main Draw of the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Cincinnati on Sunday.
The veteran Russian entered the match on a four match winning steak against Gulbis and has not lost to him since the 2011 US Open. Meanwhile, the last set Youzhny lost to Gulbis was back in 2012 in a second set tiebreaker in Doha.
Ernests Gulbis used a Protective Ranking to gain entry into the qualification draw. He is currently #275 in the world but reached the 3rd round at Wimbledon this year, defeating Juan Martin del Potro in the second round. Gulbis was also a top ten player in the world three years ago.
- Youzhny won 12 consecutive points in the 3rd set
- Youzhny saved 9 of 10 break points
- Gulbis hit 15 aces, giving him 28 in 2 days
- Youzhny won just 7 of 42 1st serve return points
- Youzhny defeated Gulbis for the 5th consecutive time
- Only 4 of the 14 seeded players qualified for the Main Draw
Ernests Gulbis dialed in at the Western & Southern Open. Pete Ziebron Images
The opening set featured Ernests Gulbis continuing to hit thundering first serves as he hit seven aces in the first set. Youzhny was not able to convert on either of his two break point opportunities and Gulbis would make good on just one of five break points, however that was all he needed as it came in the ninth game and he would serve out the opening set with an ace.
Youzhny would win the last five games of the second set, breaking Gulbis in the fourth and sixth games to take the set convincingly 6-1. The Russian would not face a break point in the middle set.
The key point in Sunday's match came early in the final set with the #12 seed Youzhny serving at 1-2. The Russian quickly fell behind 0-40 but snuffed out all three break points against with an ace and two Gulbis errors to level at deuce. Next, Youzhny calm struck two more aces to win the game. Gulbis, who appeared annoyed at two different pockets of spectators in the crowd during parts of the match, was broken at love, giving Youzhny a 3-2 lead and seeming command of the match.
Youzhny would proceed to win the first three points on his serve giving him a run of 12 consecutive points. Although Gulbis was able to momentarily end the impressive points tally by the Russian and square the game at deuce, Youzhny would win the game four points later to take a 4-2 lead in the final set.
Perhaps the oddest game in the match occurred when Gulbis served to stay in the match at 3-5. In that game, the Latvian struck 3 aces and concurrently double faulted three times.
To seal the match, Youzhny would need to dig out of a 15-40 hole on his serve and he would win five of the last six points to win and advance to the main draw. Youznhy saved all five break points against him in the third set and would save nine of ten break points on the day.
Mikhail Youzhny's opponent in the main draw will be Albert Ramos-Vinolas of Spain. The winner will play Gilles Muller of Luxembourg, who opened main draw action on Sunday with a three set win over American Ryan Harrison.
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