Sixth seed Radek Stepanek was dumped out of the Japan Open on Wednesday by Latvian qualifier Ernests Gulbis.
Latvian returns to form with Stepanek win
Sixth seed Radek Stepanek was dumped out of the Japan Open on Wednesday by Latvian qualifier Ernests Gulbis.
The big-serving Gulbis has fallen to 98th in the world rankings after a difficult year troubled by a knee injury, but feels a reversal in fortunes is on the cards after teaming up with new coach Hernan Gumy.
The 21-year-old fired 13 aces and saved all five break points against him as he sent the Czech crashing in 65 minutes, 6-4 6-4.
"I played the way which I normally play - an aggressive game - so now I'm happy about the way the things are going," said Gulbis.
"I have a couple more tournaments this year. But even if I lose, then I will have a good off-season practice and next year I'm going to come back. I'm going to play the same and I hope I can play better than I did today.
"I don't see the reason why I shouldn't play better and better...I hope to reach top 10 (in the) next two years' time."
Gulbis paid tribute to Gumy, the former mentor of two-time Grand Slam winner Marat Safin.
"He has given me a lot of tips to get back my game," he said. "Things have stabilised now. Tennis is a game of confidence. When you win, you don't think. I thought too much before."
He will take on Juan Monaco in his next match after Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez retired with illness, after going 5-0 down to the Argentine in the opening set of their first-round clash.
Russia's Mikhail Youzhny set up a second round clash with third seed Gilles Simon while Andreas Beck of Germany defeated compatriot Rainer Schuttler in a third set tie-break to earn a date with defending champion Tomas Berdych.
