Tommy Haas holds off Ernests Gulbis in three sets on Thursday in Munich. Haas is joined in the quarterfinals by fellow German Daniel Brands, who fed a third-set bagel to Gael Monfils.
(3) Tommy Haas d. Ernests Gulbis 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-1
Haas treated the German crowd to a win over Gulbis after two hours and 10 minutes of play during second-round action at the BMW Open on Thursday. The 35-year-old won only two more points than Gulbis in the first set, but a single break allowed him to serve it out at 5-4. Gulbis broke en route to a 3-0 lead in the second but gave it back and was pushed to a tiebreaker. The Latvian recovered to dominate the ‘breaker seven points to three, aided by several free points on serve and one double-fault by Haas.
The final turning point came early in set three. Gulbis missed a break point in the first game, squandered a 40-15 lead at 0-1 and got broken, then he could not convert another break chance in the third game. From there it was all over for the world No. 47, especially on the mental side. Haas added one more break for 5-1 before serving out the match in routine fashion.
“It’s never easy to play in a little bit of rain with the balls getting heavy,” Haas–who improved to 2-2 lifetime against Gulbis–said of the conditions. “But they were the same conditions for my opponent. Gulbis is a tough player. He’s got the better of me the last couple times in big matches, so I’m happy to have pulled this out in front of a home crowd.”
Daniel Brands d. (WC) Gael Monfils 6-3, 3-6, 6-0
Brands extended his 2013 dominance over Monfils in a three-set match that lasted a mere one hour and nine minutes on Thursday. The German, now 3-0 against Monfils both lifetime and this season, fired six aces without double-faulting while holding 11 of 12 service games.
Monfils, who lost to Brands in Doha and last week in Bucharest (via retirement) during his injury-plagued 2013 campaign, showed brief signs of life by earning his only break of the day in set two and serving it out at 5-3. But success was short-lived for the 103rd-ranked Frenchman, as he won only eight total points in the decider and saved none of Brands’ three break chances. Next up for Brands is top-seeded Janko Tipsarevic.
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