The Ernests' Earnest Journey Towards Elitism!

stringertom

stringertom

Bionic Poster
Barcelona qualies are next...just two rounds to advance and his first opponent is an 18-year-old WC (Toledo Bague) with an area code ranking.

On the bright side re:M-C Monaco loss...he didn't pack it in after the bagel and early break in the second. The dark side: he's got more talent in his fingernail clippings than that Argentine mug, slow court or not. Adapt and win!
 
stringertom

stringertom

Bionic Poster
The Ernests cruised today vs the young WC and now faces Middelkoop, a career Futures warrior for one of the six qualie spots in the MD. He has 16.7% chance to draw Tomic and, with that win, a shot at redemption vs the PusherPico. Would be sweet!
 
Relinquis

Relinquis

Hall of Fame
Gulbis thrashing Tomic (not literally, only in tennis terms) would be great... Commentators have ignored Ernests talent for far too long, while singing the praises when it comes to Bernie...

stringertom said:
The Ernests cruised today vs the young WC and now faces Middelkoop, a career Futures warrior for one of the six qualie spots in the MD. He has 16.7% chance to draw Tomic and, with that win, a shot at redemption vs the PusherPico. Would be sweet!
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Talker

Talker

Hall of Fame
Shaolin said:
Strange that he didn't get a WC.
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It's not so bad.

Gulbis is rested now, he played a lot of tennis for awhile there which he wasn't used to. So that probably caught up to him.

Now he has to qualify which will give him a nice headstart on getting used to the surface and he'll be rested.

Translation: He's in a very good place to do well.
 
C

CDNguy87

Hall of Fame
Gulbis won his 2nd qualifying match handily in straights. His main draw looks like:

R64- Stepanek
R32- Verdasco
R16- Raonic (probably)

Fernando might be tricky at a Spanish clay court tournament, but nothing too overwhelming really. If he can forgot the Monaco match and re-gain his mental focus from Delray/IW, making the QFs at least is definitely doable.
 
stringertom

stringertom

Bionic Poster
The Ernests disposes of The Worm in straights. Next task: conjure up some majestic tennis to induce "Tears of a Clown"!

Gotta learn some Latvian so I can give The Ernests a proper "c'mon"!
 
Relinquis

Relinquis

Hall of Fame
To cheer Ernests on you say "Aiziet Gulbi!"

I don't speak Latvian, but this is according to another poster on the Nadal Vs. Gulbis in Indian Wells thread.

I'm sure C'mon works... Ernests could make this tournament pretty interesting.
 
stringertom

stringertom

Bionic Poster
The Ernests is on court again for a fourth straight day vs Dasco...this is where the need to qualify may hurt a bit. Luckily, he straight-setted The Worm but the first set was a breaker.

Aiziet Gulbi!
 
wintintu

wintintu

Hall of Fame
even though Ernie is 0-2 v Verdasco, I can't see him having many problems tomorrow. I would say Gulbis something like 6-2 6-4. Hopefully!
 
P

papertank

Hall of Fame
Verdasco is playing the worst tennis of his career, Gulbis will move on with ease. And since Verdasco is seeded that will open up a nice draw for him. I'd say he'll make it at least to the quarters with Berdych.
 
Talker

Talker

Hall of Fame
stringertom said:
The Ernests is on court again for a fourth straight day vs Dasco...this is where the need to qualify may hurt a bit. Luckily, he straight-setted The Worm but the first set was a breaker.

Aiziet Gulbi!
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Gulbis has had plenty of rest. He also has three matches on this surface, he's in a very good place for this match.

Verdasco isn't the old Verdasco either, it should be routine for Gulbis.


Gulbis needs to keep his head straight.
 
stringertom

stringertom

Bionic Poster
Talker said:
Gulbis has had plenty of rest. He also has three matches on this surface, he's in a very good place for this match.

Verdasco isn't the old Verdasco either, it should be routine for Gulbis.


Gulbis needs to keep his head straight.
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I'm with you on all but the rest factor...he played DC singles & dubs just prior to his two rounds @M-C. Now he's playing a fourth day in a row. If he wins, which I'm sure he should if he stays focused, he should get a day off...R16 Thursday, QF Friday, SF Sat and Final on Sunday is the usual plan if I'm not mistaken. He'll need that day off if Dasco pushes him.

The next five days are huge for him...he is roughly 300 points out of getting seeded for RG. A finalist earns 300 points @500's.
 
ricki

ricki

Hall of Fame
veroniquem said:
It is incredible how Nando can't play at all anymore. Not even in Barcelona.
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actually he played pretty good, maybe better than Gulbis, but luck was on other side. Up until very end of match gulbis had 1 of 1 breakballs converted, Nando had 0/6...
 
C

CDNguy87

Hall of Fame
wintintu said:
even though Ernie is 0-2 v Verdasco, I can't see him having many problems tomorrow. I would say Gulbis something like 6-2 6-4. Hopefully!
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Nice prediction...only off by 1 game in the 1st set.

Next up is most likely Milos...as a Canadian, not sure who I'm pulling for. Milos has SF points to defend from last year, so he'll want it more than a typical 500 tournament on his weakest surface.

Milos is 2-0 against Gulbis, including a clay win at 2011 MC. But H2H probably isn't too useful a predictor when taking about pre-mentally focussed Gulbis.
 
Shaolin

Shaolin

G.O.A.T.
ricki said:
actually he played pretty good, maybe better than Gulbis, but luck was on other side. Up until very end of match gulbis had 1 of 1 breakballs converted, Nando had 0/6...
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Sorry but a 6-3, 6-4 win has nothing to do with luck.
 
egn

egn

Hall of Fame
ricki said:
actually he played pretty good, maybe better than Gulbis, but luck was on other side. Up until very end of match gulbis had 1 of 1 breakballs converted, Nando had 0/6...
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Disagree greatly. Gulbis won 57% of the points compared to 43% for Dasco. Ernie was by far playing better. He was in control of most of the points.
 
wintintu

wintintu

Hall of Fame
CDNguy87 said:
Nice prediction...only off by 1 game in the 1st set.

Next up is most likely Milos...as a Canadian, not sure who I'm pulling for. Milos has SF points to defend from last year, so he'll want it more than a typical 500 tournament on his weakest surface.

Milos is 2-0 against Gulbis, including a clay win at 2011 MC. But H2H probably isn't too useful a predictor when taking about pre-mentally focussed Gulbis.
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Thanks! I would be pretty sure Gulbis will beat Raonic here if it happens! Looking forward to it for sure :)
 
Relinquis

Relinquis

Hall of Fame
i hope facing raonic on clay doesn't conjure up the daemons again... he already had a costly episode in monaco.
 
stringertom

stringertom

Bionic Poster
The Ernests is in direct @Munich 250 this week and has drawn the crafty White Jarkko the Sharko for R1. This will be a test but I think he prevails. Points are at a premium to potentially gain a seed @RG.
 
Relinquis

Relinquis

Hall of Fame
likewise, but the tennis should be good with both players being such high level and aggressive... real tennis... i think Ernests would have the edge on clay, but will be interesting to see if his drop shots will be as effective against an all courter like Haas...

can't wait!
 
R

Rob31

Guest
Haas will beat Gulbis, even if it's on clay because he plays at home (extra motivation).
 
wintintu

wintintu

Hall of Fame
excited about this - close one to call! Edging towards Gulbis. Will be in work unfortunately! Blog updated below if u fancy a read! :)
 
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