TENNIS in DEPTH.

Ernests Gulbis claimed his first ever ATP Tour title with a straight sets win over Ivo Karlovic at the Delray Beach International Championships.

The 21-year-old adapted to the blustery conditions better than second seed Karlovic to win 6-2 6-3 in one hour and 20 minutes.

Karlovic, who was celebrating his 31st birthday, had held 46 of his 47 service games to reach the final but was broken four times by the world number 72 who became the first Latvian to win on tour.

“Everything I do now is first time for my country,” said Gulbis, who was also playing in his first final.

“Of course it’s great. I hope it’s positive. I hope much more players will start to practise in Latvia.

“It’s good for tennis in Latvia. They see that a guy from Latvia also can make it and win an ATP World Tour event.

“I felt comfortable. I like being in the final. I felt nobody’s giving me pressure.

“It was really windy today; it was tough wind. I think he couldn’t get really good timing for the serve. He wasn’t hitting so many first serves in. I knew what I had to do against him.”

Gulbis had to fend off two break-point chances early before reeling off four consecutive games to win the opening set.

In the second set Gulbis broke to go 2-1 ahead before breaking Karlovic again in the ninth game to close out the match.

“He was playing really good. Everything that he hit was in,” Karlovic said.

“He was very cool, calm. Nothing could impress him. This year is going to be his breakthrough.”

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Ernests Gulbis and Juan Monaco are both on court today at the Sweden Open in Stockholm. So what? Neither player is fighting for a season ending ranking improvement or a place in the Barclays London finals, and neither of them have much to lose or gain by winning or losing. Gulbis is playing Feliciano Lopez, and Monaco is playing the young local hero Joachim Johansson.

It is this same Johansson who is reportedly to have blown the whistle on both Gulbis and Monaco for their procurement of prostitutes for sex. A minor charge in sexually liberated Sweden, where the prostitutes get off free while the ‘John’ pays a fine. It’s more of an embarrassment than anything else, but both of the accused are single, probably horny, and looking to have a little fun away from home in exotic Sweden. No harm done!

There is an unwritten code among the players of the ATP, sorta like a club or gang, where each looks out for the other, and as professionals in the same sport it is unthinkable that some upstart would point the finger at a fellow player.

The ‘match of the day’ is the final match on centre court between Juan Monaco and Joachim ‘Pimp-Pimp’ Johansson, and it will be interesting to witness how Monaco responds when facing his accuser. I just hope he beats the crap out of him!

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Andy Murray rolled with the punches, the tumbles and a few moments of inspired tennis from Ernests Gulbis of Latvia last night to secure his place in the second round of the US Open in front of a crowd that saved its hugest cheer for a ballboy who went spinning into the photographers’ pit and came out unscathed.

The greatest imperative of the first week of a grand slam tournament is to survive it without too many alarms and loss of resources and that was exactly what the British No 1 achieved, winning 7-5, 6-3, 7-5 in two hours and 17 minutes.

Gulbis played the flashier tennis, made the greater assortment of errors, especially on his forehand, and, having been unable to win consecutive matches since he reached a career high ranking of No 38 a year ago, went to his expected exit. This excellent talent has found reaching the heady heights expected of him difficult to handle.

Murray, on the other hand, is thriving in his exalted position as the No 2 seed. In truth, he had this match well in hand, surviving the occasional tripwire of dropping his serve by responding with a subtlety and variety of shots and surety of purpose that are his trademarks.

Of course, there were the usual tweaks and grimaces and once he went crashing full legnth into Gulbis’s courtside gear, chasing a dropshot. He was none the worse at the end and meets Paul Capdeville of Chile for the first time, in the second round.

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Andy Murray is “disappointed” over hints from his Wimbledon second-round opponent Ernests Gulbis that he bent the rules to his advantage in one of their previous matches.

Latvian Gulbis, up against the British number one on Centre Court, recalls a meeting at Queen’s Club last year when he believes Murray took a medical ‘time-out’ for no other reason than to slow up the match.

Murray acknowledges some players do occasionally use such dubious tactics but insists he is one of the good guys who do not.

“I did have to withdraw from the next round the following day, so that’s very disappointing to hear,” said the Scot.

“I never once used any of the rules that certain players have used to try to gain an upper hand in a match or to slow my opponent down or anything.

“When I played him at Queen’s that was not the case. I didn’t realise there was a problem. I woke up and I couldn’t grip the racket the following day.”

Gulbis made it clear he saw things differently.

“In the third set, he took a medical time-out when it was five-all,” he remembered.

“Actually he had nothing (wrong with him). He just broke my rhythm, and I wasn’t an experienced enough player to deal with that at the time.”

Murray refutes Gulbis’ version of events.

“There are so many things in matches where guys take toilet breaks, injury time-outs, delay you sometimes when you are trying to serve, and take a little longer in between the points than they are meant to. It happens all the time,” he concedes.

“I have never done it – it’s not part of the sport. It’s a form of cheating – it’s bending the rules to gain an advantage.

“It does go on. Certain players do it, and certain players don’t. I’m one of the guys who doesn’t do it.”

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Add another name to the list of newbies that are being touted as the next generation of players to reach the top of their profession. Ernests Gulbis is a 6′3

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