Acapulco 500

[Moxie]

What a mess they're making of it, so far. So much for the under-card stepping up. I'm sure we'll see which one wants to make the statement, but so far, they're both nervous.

 

[nehmeth]

The lads seem to have gotten control of the jitters and are holding their serves... and upon posting it - Greg goes down 0-40 on his serve. Set points for Gulbis.

 

[Moxie]

The lads seem to have gotten control of the jitters and are holding their serves... and upon posting it - Greg goes down 0-40 on his serve. Set points for Gulbis.

Looks like Dimitrov will make a 2nd set of it. 4-4. I probably won't be able to wait them out.

 

[Moxie]

Ferrer apparently has left abductor injury. Whatever that is. And Gulbis implodes a bit to allow Dimitrov to take things to a third set.

 

[Front242]

Unreal. Gulbis docked a point and a game as a result. No umpire would have the balls to do that to Rafa or Del Potro ever.

 

[Moxie]

At 0-40 on his serve, Gulbis was given a code violation and lost the point, and therefore the game. Not clear what it was, but seems it was an audible obscenity.

 

[Front242]

Well done, Ernie. Stick that up the umpire's hole. Pardon my French.

 

[Front242]

Gulbis is some nutter with those 2nd serves. Not even Janowicz hits 2nd serves that hard. His double faults are as bad as Sharapova today though.

 

[Front242]

Strange match but entertaining. Not sure I've seen Murray v Dimitrov so hopefully it'll be a good match. Good win for Dimitrov but bit of a mess by Gulbis when he had 2 mps in set 2.

 

[Front242]

Gulbis has played quite a lot the last few weeks. Probably needs a bit of recharging anyway.

 

[Moxie]

Ultimately, I guess I'm happy for Dimitrov, as he was the calmer head. Yes, Gulbis has played a lot of tennis the last couple of weeks, but he also self-imploded in the 2nd. He hasn't yet changed the scouting report on himself. He still has a weak head. But Dimitrov demonstrated a lot of weaknesses, as well. I was hoping for one of them to make a statement. Dimitrov's wasn't convincing. Oh, well...

 

[Front242]

Seems to me like Gulbis' game suffers a lot when he gets gassed and the amount he's played lately has probably taken its toll. Obviously all players start making errors when they get fatigued but Gulbis' game seems to really go off the rails. The botched volley at the end was more about fatigue than poor execution. The lack of execution was because his cardio was rock bottom and legs were pretty tired. He ran more in rallies than Dimitrov. In the 3rd set it seemed if he didn't make a first serve he was too tired to do anything with the rest of the point.

 

[Moxie]

Seems to me like Gulbis' game suffers a lot when he gets gassed and the amount he's played lately has probably taken its toll. Obviously all players start making errors when they get fatigued but Gulbis' game seems to really go off the rails. The botched volley at the end was more about fatigue than poor execution. The lack of execution was because his cardio was rock bottom and legs were pretty tired. He ran more in rallies than Dimitrov. In the 3rd set it seemed if he didn't make a first serve he was too tired to do anything with the rest of the point.

Maybe…but that doesn't explain the 2nd set, which you probably didn't see. I was only half paying attention, but Ernie was not closing the deal when he had chances. A racquet was destroyed. He's still got flakiness issues, and that's not fatigue. Dimitrov was the mentally sturdier in the 2nd and 3rd, and that's not saying much.

 

[Front242]

Nah, I watched the 2nd set alright. It was actually set 1 I didn't see. They wee both pretty poor though for all the hype the match got beforehand.

 

[kskate2]

KA teaches Dog an early lesson 6-1

 

[kskate2]

With some supreme fight, Dog levels the match 7-5. We're heading for the decider.

 

[Moxie]

The Dog cleans things up a bit and wins the 2nd with a break. 7-5. This is a pretty entertaining one now. Good to see Dolgopolov keeping the faith and hanging in. He nearly got broke at 4-4, but held on.

 

[Iona16]

Ferrer apparently has left abductor injury. Whatever that is. And Gulbis implodes a bit to allow Dimitrov to take things to a third set.

Poor Ferrer. He announced on twitter earlier that he's had to pull out of Indian Wells.

 

[Moxie]

Ferrer apparently has left abductor injury. Whatever that is. And Gulbis implodes a bit to allow Dimitrov to take things to a third set.

Poor Ferrer. He announced on twitter earlier that he's had to pull out of Indian Wells.

Oh, dear. Thanks for the info, Iona. It seemed to be a bad step. Well, with the European clay season coming up, he'd better rest and rehab it properly. Kind of injury added to insult for David: I'm sure he'd have preferred that Acapulco kept the clay.

 

[Correspondent Kiu]

Ferrer apparently has left abductor injury. Whatever that is. And Gulbis implodes a bit to allow Dimitrov to take things to a third set.

Poor Ferrer. He announced on twitter earlier that he's had to pull out of Indian Wells.

Looks to me like he got run over by the big guy!

Hope he recovers fast, he needs to be in shape for the clay season.