It’s been a long time coming – the official comeback of Ernests Gulbis – and what better way to announce it than by handing Roger Federer his first ever five-set defeat at Roland Garros to reach his first Grand Slam quarter-final in six years.
Federer was bidding to reach a 10th consecutive quarter-final at Roland Garros while Gulbis hadn’t made it past the third round at any major since making the quarters in Paris in 2008.
“This was probably the most important match of my career, especially because it was five sets,” said Gulbis. “For my confidence and just for me as a tennis player, a five‑set win over Roger Federer is really big.”
The world No17, who is the only Latvian man to compete at a Grand Slam, has won two titles in France this season, in Marseille and Nice, and is now 12-0 in the country in 2014.
The match was three hours and 42 minutes of high quality tennis and it was Gulbis who drew first blood, breaking for a 4-2 lead in the opening set. The 25-year-old was attacking with his serve and his backhand but Federer was equally sharp and he broke back, forcing the set to go to a tiebreak.
The Swiss was trailing 3-5 in the tiebreak but rallied back to take a one-set lead with a forehand passing shot. The pair exchanged breaks early in the second and Federer edged ahead breaking in the eighth game for a 5-3 lead.
But the 2009 champion was broken while serving for the set. He hit an overhead smash in the direction of Gulbis, who executed the passing shot and from then on the momentum seemed to have abandoned Federer.
“I was really lucky,” said Gulbis of that point. He then ran away with the second set tiebreak, after getting a code violation for breaking a racquet when he squandered two break points in game 11.
The Latvian broke twice in the third set – which saw a classic Federer ‘tweener’ – to take a two-sets-to-one lead. Gulbis went down two breaks in the fourth and went off-court for a medical timeout while trailing 2-5.
"It was my back and the hamstring, they were getting a little bit tight,” explained Gulbis. “I'm honest, I'm not big on medical timeouts. I don't like to take it, but I take it when it's really necessary. It probably was my third medical timeout in my life.”
Upon his return, Gulbis got booed by the crowd but won 10 of the next 11 points, getting one of the breaks back.
But Federer served out the set on his second attempt to level the match. Gulbis went up 0-40 on Federer’s serve in the second game of the decider and got the crucial break. The 18th-seed aced to get his first match point and only needed one to book a quarter-final with Tomas Berdych.
“(My thoughts are) a bit all over the place,” said Federer after the loss. “Clearly I'm very disappointed not to come through with the win. After the chance in the second set, fighting back in the fourth, not to play a better fifth set.
“A lot of regrets here now. But I think Gulbis did a good job of hanging around and clearly coming back in that second set was crucial for him, I think. So it was a tough match and I'm disappointed I lost it.”
For a second straight match, Federer’s opponent went off the court for a medical timeout. Asked how he handles the waiting time, the Swiss said: “That's part of the game. In the past I guess it's been abused much more than today, but still, what can you tell? He didn't look hurt in any way. But if you can use it might as well do it.”
