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2/5/09 9:01 PM | Ricky Dimon
Ernests Gulbis bows out of the PBZ Zagreb Indoors to 425th-ranked Ivan Dodig. The upset trend continues at night as defending champ Sergiy Stakhovsky ousts Ivo Karlovic.
Ivan Dodig d. Ernests Gulbis 7-6(3), 6-4
After a shocking 6-1, 6-4 rout of Zagreb No. 1 seed Igor Andreev in the first round, Dodig pulled off another upset on Thursday afternoon, this time over Gulbis. Having never won an ATP Tour match prior to this week, the little-known Croat suddenly finds himself in the quarterfinals of an ATP event. Dodig ran into some early trouble, but he saved three break points in the opening game of the match. That seemed to settle him down a bit and both men held serve until 5-5 in the first set. Gulbis then broke for a 6-5 lead, but after cruising through his first five service games, the Latvian blew a set point and then double-faulted on break point. In the tiebreaker, Gulbis took a quick 3-1 lead and then promptly lost the next six points to gift his underdog opponent the set. Gulbis never showed any signs of recovering in the second. Dodig, ranked 425th in the world, went up an early break and even had a match point on Gulbis' serve at 5-3 to finish things off in style. He missed the chance, but served out the match with ease at 5-4 to book his place in the quarterfinals after one hour and 45 minutes. Dodig finished with eight aces and did not face a single break point in the second set, while six double-faults crippled Gulbis' chances. Next up for Dodig is either Teimuraz Gabashvili or fellow Croat Mario Ancic.
Mischa Zverev d. Victor Hanescu 6-4, 5-7, 7-6(7)
It took two hours and 36 minutes to decide this extremely competitive affair between Zverev and Hanescu. It was Zverev who gained an upper hand early in the match, breaking serve twice in the opening set despite the fact that Hanescu put in 80 percent on his first serves. However, the 6'6'' Romanian battled back for a quick break in the second. But just as the match appeared to be heading for a third, Hanescu gave the break back and Zverev returned to level terms as the set progressed to 5-5. Despite the setback, Hanescu stayed strong and his third break of the match at 6-5 forced a decisive third frame of play. Finally, both men were able to take care of their own service games for an entire set, although it wasn't without trouble. Hanescu saved four break points while Zverev saved five (including one match point at 5-6), thus forcing a final tiebreaker. Hanescu jumped out to a 4-0 lead and eventually held three match points at 6-3. Nonetheless, Zverev refused to quit and the German came all the way back for 6-6. Five points later, following a fifth match point for Hanescu at 7-6, Zverev clinched the dramatic victory by winning the 'breaker nine points to seven. The No. 79 player in the world will do battle in another all-unseeded clash in the quarterfinals against Jan Hernych, who upset Paul-Henri Mathieu.
Sergiy Stakhovsky d. Ivo Karlovic 6-4, 3-6, 6-3
In a rematch of last year's first-round Zagreb encounter, defending champion Stakhovsky once again sent Karlovic packing in front of the big man's home fans. It was a matchup expected to be dominated by serving, but both men came precariously close to dropping their respective opening service games. Karlovic saved two break points to hold for 1-0 and then Stakhovsky saved a break point to match him. At 4-4, however, Karlovic was not as fortunate. Stakhovsky capitalized on his fifth break chance of the set to take a 5-4 lead and he served things out easily in the next game to take a one-set advantage. Karlovic, however, picked up the pace in set two. The 6'10'' Croat put in 82 percent of his first serves, won 17 of 18 first-serve points, and did not face a single break point. A break of Stakhovsky at 3-2 was enough to force a decisive third set. Early in the final frame of play, it looked like one break would surely be enough for victory as both men held serve with no problem. That proved to be the case when--with Karlovic serving at 3-4--Stakhovsky suddenly struck. A flurry of Karlovic errors and one perfect backhand pass gave the Ukrainian a break at 15. Stakhovsky then closed his opponent out at love to set to set up a quarterfinal meeting with Viktor Troicki.
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