Stefanos Tsitsipas and Ernests Gulbis will be going head-to-head for the first time in their careers when they battle for the Intrum Stockholm Open title on Sunday afternoon.
This is Gulbis’ seventh career ATP title match and first since 2014, finally giving him a chance to extend his already incredible–and perfect–lifetime finals record to 7-0. Five of the Latvian’s six winners’ trophies have come on hard courts, including two indoors (St. Petersburg in 2013, Marseille in 2014).
Gulbis has been a human roller-coaster as a professional, and he is showing signs of trending upward on the heels of several nightmarish years. The world No. 145 reached the Wimbledon fourth round as a qualifier and also qualified for the main draw in Stockholm. He followed up that success with defeats of Mikael Ymer, Denis Shapovalov, Jack Sock, and John Isner, dropping first sets to Sock and Isner along the way.
“I like the way I am playing now; I like the way I am feeling, the way I am hitting and moving” Gulbis assessed. “If I play like this, I can beat anybody. I can give anybody trouble, for sure, so it is not going to be an easy match for [Tsitsipas] tomorrow. It is probably not going to be an easy match in general.”
Ten years younger than his upcoming opponent, the 20-year-old Tsitsipas has gone in only one direction during his brief career: up. A breakout 2018 campaign is highlighted by a 38-25 record that includes a fourth-round appearance at Wimbledon and a runner-up performance at the Toronto Masters. The Greek is 7-2 in his last nine matches following wins this week over John Millman, Philipp Kohlschreiber, and Fabio Fognini.
While Gulbis was on fire earlier in the tournament, his general inconsistency reappeared against Sock and Isner. Tsitsipas, on the other hand, destroyed Fognini 6-2, 6-3 on Saturday. In his third career final and third of the season, Tsitsipas is due for his first title.
What a win by #Gulbis! Tomorrow we will crowd a new winner of Intrum Stockholm Open. @StefTsitsipas or #Gulbis? #sthlmopen pic.twitter.com/oOYmjK0Cos
— Stockholm Open (@sthlm_open) October 20, 2018
Pick: Tsitsipas in 3
[polldaddy poll=10142351]
who ya got?
Gulbis in 3 lets gooo
Tsame – Tsitsi in 3. With at least one lopsided set. It remains to be seen whether it’ll be Tsitsi or Ernie who gets bageled, though.
kick his ass tsitsipas
LOL…ah that never gets old! lol
Like many tennis fans I’m following the progress of Tsitsipas with interest so it was great to see him win his first ATP title against the far more experienced Gulbis who he himself has never quite lived up to the early promise he showed back in 2008.
‘never quite lived up to ‘ putting it mildly.
He’s one of the few players who could trouble Nadal . Who knows what he would have achieved if he’d tried harder.
One of many ‘who never lived up to’. Maybe the ATP should have an “Underachievers Anonymous” tournament for those guys.
Big Al AT 10:38 PM,
But Gulbis troubled Fed! Great!
LOL, Gulbis 0-7 vs Rafa.
2-3 vs Federer (2-1 on clay including beating him at RG).
But maybe it was bad back, knee, hand, mono or SARS.
I think Big Al does make a valid point. Gulbis has had historically close battles with Rafa, with only two of seven matches ending in straight sets. For example, Rafa has beaten him in three clay court masters and these were the scores: 7-5 3-6 6-3, 6-4 3-6 6-4, 1-6 6-4 7-5. These also happened in three of Rafa’s best years (2008, 2010, 2013). Of course, Gulbis has tested Federer even more so in actually beating him a couple times.
But what was the relevance to Rafa?
If we are considering underachievers and how they show occasional potential against great players, given his much greater success vs Federer, it would seem that it would make more sense point out Federer’s much greater struggles vs Gulbis.
But tennis board comments are seldom about sense.
I didn’t realise Gulbis had beaten Federer twice on his worst surface .I just remembered RG 2014. Sorry.
Adds even more weight to my original point , which was in no way meant to be a Nadal v Federer comparison.
Nah, Big Al had it right. Winning a set from Rafa on clay is much more impressive than beating Fed on clay. Winning two sets from Rafa at RG is almost enough to get you into the Hall of Fame.
Gulbis was obviously very good on clay , so he was able to beat Federer but not quite Nadal. Simple.
clay is Gulbis’ best matchup on which to face Federer