An epic meltdown by Viktor Troicki overshadows an outstanding third-round performance by Ernests Gulbis on Wednesday in Rome. Gulbis is through to a third-round showdown against Rafael Nadal.
Ernests Gulbis won his fourth match of the week at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia when he steamrolled Viktor Troicki 6-1, 6-1 during second-round action on Wednesday evening. Gulbis blasted 30 winners to his opponent’s 10 and held all seven of his service game to advance in one hour and 10 minutes.
The Latvian had qualified for the main draw before ousting Jarkko Nieminen in straight sets on Monday and he was in even more dominant form right from the start of this one. Gulbis won all 13 of his first-serve points in the opening frame of play, so two breaks of his own were easily enough to take the set with ease.
Undoubtedly, the highlight of the match came when Troicki dropped serve early in the second. Chair umpire Cedric Mourier confirmed Troicki’s forehand on break point to be just long, but the Serb had a much different opinion when he inspected the mark for himself. He launched into a verbal tirade before dragging a TV camera–and a cameraman–out on the court to get footage of the mark.
watch the meltdown:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=165r4mM9edc]
After threatening to retire from the match, Troicki came back out and promptly earned his only two break points of the day. Gulbis steadied himself after the delay, however, and managed to consolidate his break. From there the world No. 46 was once again off to the races and his fifth break of the match at 5-1 finished off the double-breadstick in style.
Troicki struck a mere 10 unforced errors, but he was overpowered by an opponent who is now 19-6 at the ATP main-draw level this season. Next up for Gulbis is a third-round clash against Rafael Nadal.
watch Jerzy Janowic’s meltdown from earlier in the year:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hfTDuISM4U]
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