Ernests Gulbis of Latvia continued his impressive run at the French Open 2014 tournament on Tuesday after defeating Tomas Berdych 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 to secure his first career Grand Slam semifinal. Gulbis eliminated fourth-seed Roger Federer in the previous round.
“It’s very special,” Gulbis said during the oncourt interview. “Today was the best match of the tournament. I did everything well.
Sixth-seed Berdych admitted that he was defeated by a better player.
It was not my best day,” he said. “It was not the day that I would stay with him and push him into the tough situations. He handled it quite well.”
Gulbis reached his first career Grand Slam quarterfinal at this event six years ago. He will next face Novak Djokovic for a spot in the final. This will be their first meeting since 2011 and he trails 1-4 in their head to head series.
“I think just for me it’s 0-0 with him in matches,” said Gulbis. “The way I’m playing now, I never played like this. I never felt like this. What was in the past I don’t even consider. I beat him once, also in a bad match. He was changing racquet, and he was playing really bad.”
Gulbis could break in the world’s top ten next week with a semifinal run.
