Ernest Gulbis, the first racket in Latvian men’s tennis, suffered a loss in the semi-finals of the Challenger series on Saturday in the French city of Cherbourg. Swan, who ranks 261st in the ATP rankings, gave way to the Frenchman Constant Letjen (ATP 236) with 7-6 (7: 4), 4-6, 4-6.
In the first set, Gulbis lost the second game by serving, which allowed the opponent to take the lead with 3-0. However, he played, winning the seventh and ninth games when the Frenchman served 5-4. However, the next game failed to finish the set with his servant, and he had to leave the Thai, where Gulbis was 7: 4. Before that, he played five setballs in the 12th family.
In the second set, Gulbis used the second of two break balls in a row in the fourth game, reaching 3-1. However, the opponent, serving Gulbi, won the seventh and ninth games, also celebrating the victory in the set – 6-4. In the third set, the Latvian lost the first game – 2-3. In the next two games, the player taking the service won, thus the Frenchman was in the set with 6-4.
It has already been reported that earlier in the tournament the Latvian defeated his home Dan Edida (ATP 390) with 6-4, 6-4, defeated another Frenchman Gilles Simon (ATP 124) with 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 and in the quarterfinals by 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 defeated homeowner Pierre Erber (ATP 111). Gulbis won 30 ATP points in the tournament. The tournament in Cherbourg takes place on hard surfaces.
