Indianapolis (Indiana), July 21 (DPA) A pair of seeds began the Indianapolis Tennis Championships with victories as France’s number seven Marc Gicquel added more pain to the season of Ernests Gulbis.
On Monday, Gicquel handed the 20-year-old from Riga his eighth loss of the season in the first round of a tournament with a 6-2, 6-3 victory, capped by a fourth and final break of the prodigy, whose star has fallen badly over the last year.
Gulbis has not put two winning matches together for almost a year, since reaching the August 2008 quarter-finals in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he lost to longtime friend Novak Djokovic.
Gicquel began his Indianapolis debut in quickfire style, taking a mere 61 minutes to dispatch Gulbis as the number 65 player’s season record fell to 10 wins and 18 losses.
Eighth-seeded Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan staged a comeback over US journeyman Kevin Kim, advancing 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.
Third seed Sam Querrey, a semi-finalist in both of his previous appearances, was making his start against French veteran Arnaud Clement in a tournament where 2007 champion Dmitry Tursunov takes the top seeding after the last injury pullout of Wimbledon finalist Andy Roddick.
Roddick has vowed to return to the event he has twice won.
“I just don’t feel like I was 100-percent ready to compete in a tournament yet. I didn’t play in Indianapolis last year, and I was really looking forward to getting back,” the world number five said.
“It’s a place I really enjoy playing. I’ve had a lot of good memories from the tournament. I’m disappointed I can’t be part of that this year.”
rounak