The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Gulbis stuns Djokovic

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Wednesday, Jan 07, 2009
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Gulbis stuns Djokovic

Djokovic struggles with his serve
Tomas Berdych beats Brydan Klein

BRISBANE: The top-seeded Novak Djokovic was upset in the first round of his season-opening tournament, losing in straight sets to Latvia’s Ernests Gulbis at the Brisbane International here on Tuesday.

Djokovic, who started the week with a chance of replacing Roger Federer at No. 2 in the world rankings, lost 6-4, 6-4 to the 20-year-old Latvian who finished last year at No. 53.

The 21-year-old Serb was a hot favourite to improve to 3-0 against Gulbis, his previous wins coming in quarterfinal matches at the French Open and at Cincinnati last season.

Djokovic struggled with his serve and was broken in the fifth game. Both players dropped serve twice to open the second set before the Serb finally held, raising both arms in the air in mock triumph when he earned a game point with an ace.

However, he was in trouble again in the ninth, facing two break points at 15-40 and dropping serve when he lost a scrambling rally.

Gulbis closed out at love, sealing the win in one hour and 28 minutes with an ace, his fourth of the match.

The fifth-seeded Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic beat Australian Brydan Klein 6-0, 6-4 and Florent Serra of France ousted former No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain 6-3, 7-6(3) in the other matches.

Azarenka advances

On the women’s side, the second-seeded Victoria Azarenka missed two match points before sealing a 7-6(4), 7-5 win over Jarmila Gajdosova of Slovakia and No. 3 Marion Bartoli of France beat Hungary’s Melinda Czink 5-7, 6-3, 6-1.

Azarenka, runner-up at the Gold Coast tournament last year which was a forerunner to the joint ATP-WTA Brisbane International, thought she’d won on her first match point but was on the receiving end of an erroneous out call on her deep forehand. She broke Gajdosova at love in the next game to avoid another tiebreaker and reach the quarterfinals.

Tathiana Garbin of Italy rallied to post a 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 win over Russia’s Alisa Kleybanova.

The results:

At Brisbane: Brisbane International: Men: Second round: Robin Soderling bt Julien Benneteau 6-3, 6-3; First round: Tomas Berdych bt Brydan Klein 6-0, 6-4; Florent Serra bt Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-3, 7-6(3); Ernests Gulbis bt Novak Djokovic 6-4, 6-4; Paul-Henri Mathieu bt Teimuraz Gabashvili 6-3, 6-3; Mario Ancic bt Amer Delic 7-6(2), 6-7(4), 7-6(6); Kei Nishikori bt Bobby Reynolds 6-3, 6-2; Michael Llodra bt Joseph Sirianni 5-7, 7-6(3), 6-2; Jo-Wilfried Tsonga bt Agustin Calleri 6-2, 7-5.

Women: Second round: Tathiana Garbin bt Alisa Kleybanova 4-6, 6-4, 6-2; Victoria Azarenka bt Jarmila Gajdosova 7-6(4), 7-5; Marion Bartoli bt Melinda Czink 5-7, 6-3, 6-1.

At Auckland: WTA Auckland Classic: First round: Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova bt Kristina Barrois 6-3, 6-1; Anne Keothavong bt Mirjana Lucic 6-4, 6-2; Marina Erakovic bt Nuria Llagostera 7-5, 6-4; Ayumi Morita bt Marta Domachowska 6-4, 4-6, 6-4; Elena Dementieva bt Chan Yung-jan 7-5, 6-3; Caroline Wozniacki bt Alberta Brianti 6-1, 6-0; Elena Vesnina bt Aiko Nakamura 6-1, 6-0; Carla Suarez Navarro bt Nathalie Dechy 6-4, 6-0.

Monday’s results: At Doha: Qatar Open: First round: Gael Monfils bt Jan Hernych 6-2, 6-2; Nicolas Devilder bt Abdulla Hajji 6-0, 6-3; Victor Hanescu bt Vicktor Troicki 6-4, 6-2; Sergiy Stakhovsky bt Christophe Rochus 2-6, 6-3, 7-6(3); Andy Roddick bt Ivan Navarro 6-1, 6-3. — Agencies

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