Ernests Gulbis gets past Jurgen Zopp in three sets on Thursday in St. Petersburg. Gulbis is joined in the quarterfinals by Lukas Rosol, a straight-set winner over Karen Khachanov.
(6) Ernests Gulbis d. (PR) Jurgen Zopp 6-3, 1-6, 6-3
Gulbis suffered a mid-match hiccup but recovered to beat Zopp in one hour and 39 minutes during second-round action at the St. Petersburg Open on Thursday afternoon. The 36th-ranked Latvian led 5-1, 30-0 in the first set but dropped serve and lost two straight games before closing it out at 5-3. Perhaps encouraged by the end of the opener, Zopp maintained momentum and stormed through the second. The Estonian saved all five of the break points he faced, so two scalps of the Gulbis serve were more than enough.
Finally waking up, Gulbis dominated the decider. This week’s No. 6 seed lost a mere four points on his own serve to make one break stand up. He wrapped up the proceedings with a service winner at 5-3, 40-15. Next up for Gulbis is Roberto Bautista Agut, who saved a match point and outlasted Evgeny Donskoy in a third-set tiebreaker.
(7) Lukas Rosol d. (WC) Karen Khachanov 6-4, 6-4
Indoor hard courts appear to be doing the job for Rosol, who had not won a match since Queen’s Club and was 2-13 in his last 15 ATP-level matches prior to this week. The 46th-ranked Czech kicked off his tournament with a victory over Ricardas Berankis and he made short work of Khachanov in one hour and nine minutes on Thursday.
Khachanov, 17, won his first ATP match in round one against Victor Hanescu and he at least fared well against the Rosol serve in this one. He broke three times, but the Russian was hopeless with his own delivery. Rosol won more than half of his first-serve return points and seized five breaks over the course of the afternoon. St. Petersburg’s seventh seed will battle Michal Przysiezny for a place in the semifinals.
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