Ernests Gulbis feels he's turning a corner as he qualifies for Roland Garros main draw

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  • A semi-finalist at Roland Garros four years ago, Ernests Gulbis found himself grinding through the qualifying rounds in Paris this week before he managed to secure a spot in the main draw on Friday.

    The Latvian former top-10 player was competing in the qualifying tournament at a Grand Slam for the first time since 2007 and just the third time in his entire career.

    He defeated Stephane Robert, Stefano Travaglia and finally Italian lefty Alessandro Giannessi 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 in the third round on Friday to book himself a place in the main draw.

    Friday’s affair was an edgy affair that saw a temperamental Gulbis get irritated throughout.

    But he survived it and will take on 29th-seeded Gilles Muller in the French Open first round.

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  • “The experience was, it’s tough, it’s really tough to pass qualies because everyone is super-motivated, everybody gives their best. A lot of prize money, it’s not a lot of points but a lot of prize money for the guys, especially those ranked from 100-200. These are the weeks that really make a difference for them, if you win 10 or $20,000 each match, everybody really goes for it and they show their best tennis,” Gulbis told Sport360 of his first Slam qualifying experience in more than 11 years.

    “Today I think my opponent played really well, I don’t know how I won to be honest, I just stuck around and was lucky a little bit.”

    Currently ranked 162 in the world, Gulbis hasn’t strung together back-to-back wins like this in a long time, and he knows it.

    He’s coming off a semi-final appearance in the Bordeaux Challenger last week and feels he could be finally turning a corner after struggling for so long.

    “It gives me a boost but I need to recover, I’m not 18 anymore, these long matches they take a lot,” confessed the 29-year-old Gulbis.

    “Especially now when I hadn’t had back-to-back matches for a long. I haven’t won three matches in a row, check the statistics, but I think like for two years. And it happened in Bordeaux for the first time, and now here, so hopefully it’s some kind of something is starting. And something is starting, if you win six matches in a short period of time of course something is starting, so we’ll see how I do in the main draw.”

    He’s right. Prior to Bordeaux, the last time Gulbis won three matches in a row was in the 2016 French Open – one of which was via retirement.

    The Latvian will now have to get himself ready for a showdown with Luxembourg’s Muller on Monday.

    Roland Garros is Gulbis’ best Slam, having amassed a 16-11 win-loss record there.

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