Scenic route led to Cincy victory
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Ernests banished his tight match demons by defeating Arnaud Clément 6-4 3-6 7-(5) in a grippingly close match. He had lost all the tight matches in the previous three Masters Series events he competed in, most notably to Nikolay Davydenko in Miami, where he had match point. Davydenko went on to win the tournament by defeating Rafael Nadal in the final. |
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Ernests converted the only break point offered in the first set to win it 6-4, but strayed into stormy waters early in the second set as a double fault at 0*-40 enabled Clément to break him to love.
He was unable to recover from that deficit, despite having a break point when Clément served for the set.
In the third set, Ernests continued to be troubled on serve, going down *0-30 on his own serve in several games. He was broken in the ninth game of this set, giving Clément the chance to serve for the match at 5*-4.
Despite facing a match point against him, Ernests was undaunted and continued to pound away at Clément’s defences – until he was finally rewarded with a break.
Frustratingly, just as the score was levelled at 5-all Ernests lost a 40*-15 lead on his serve to be broken and allowed Clément another chance to serve for the match. The Frenchman was again unable to close it out, and the match was decided in a tense tiebreak.
Both players, perhaps feeling the pressure, continued the streak of inability to hold serve as the tiebreak served minibreaks galore. Ernests finally earned two match points at 6-4* and successfully served out the match on his second match point to capture the tiebreak set, 7-6(5).
This is Ernests’ first appearance in the third round of a Masters Series event. He will face home favourite, James Blake, whom he defeated in Roland Garros earlier this year. The fast courts favour their big-serving, hard-hitting games – ‘ballbashing’ in layman’s terms – and it remains to be seen which of these two players would be able to exert control and finesse over his shotmaking tomorrow.
CINCINNATI R2: Ernests Gulbis (LAT) def. Arnaud Clément (FRA) 6-4 3-6 7-6(5)
unbelievable ernests! magic ernests!
Gongrats for Ernests:)
but I’m still angry that I didn’t see the game
and I was waiting and waiting but there’s no channel that brought the game…I’m sick of sports chennel…we wanna see more Ernests
and I’m positive he’ll beat Black on the hard court too
Climb to the top Ernests
There was no TV camera on Court 3, only Centre Court and the Grandstand are covered so you can stop feeling cheated now.
And his opponent’s name is ‘Blake’ not ‘Black’.
hahaha OMG I just wrote BLACK!!!!!!!!
well it’s not the first time that we’re not able to see Ernests
since this tournement started and Tornto too we only get to see the last 3 games of the match…NOT FAIR AT ALL
I mean I stay up all morning to see the match you know cause I’m in K.S.A!!
Yeah it’s not just your problem, it used to be worse before they offered the ATP Masters Series TV service. At least now you can get decent coverage of the biggest 2 courts if you’re willing to fork out some money – before this there was nothing…
At least you saw 3 games
Here in Belgium it’s even worse. On Eurosport they broadcast lots of WTA-matches but not ATP, and on the other channels they prefer political discussions about the problems in our country… they only broadcast the slams.
Me too i did not see the match,i’ve juste follow the live scoring
but today the match is broadcasted on TV!I’m happy to see him again
I hope for him the quarter-final
Go Ernests
yeyyyyy we get to see a full match now!
come on Ernests kick Blake out
I was one of the lucky ones actually at the match. My first ever ATP tournament and I get to see Ernests from the 2nd row of the Grandstand court. I was cheering him on throughout and was so happy that he clinched the win over Clement.