Third & Fourth Seeds Drop In Memphis

Ernests Gulbis took out third-seed Radek Stepanek 7-6(5) 7-5 in their second-round matchup. The Latvian secures a spot in the quarterfinals against the winner of the Russell-Berdych match. The 21 year old has yet to make it to the semifinals in an ATP event so far in his career.

The Latvian showed promise a few years ago when he was at a career-high of 38, but there has not been a lot to write about the Latvian ON the tennis court in the last year. Off the court, he was embroiled in the case of the mystery tennis player busted for solicitation of a prostitute in Sweden last year. Oops.

The Latvian started off this year with a good run in Doha where he lost to Roger Federer in the quarterfinals. He then lost in the opening rounds of the Australian Open and San Jose. This week, the current world no. 99 is off to a good start with two-straight wins.

In the other upset of the day, Xavier Malisse upset fourth-seed Tommy Haas 6-4 3-6 6-4 in the German-American’s Memphis debut. The Belgian now has a large task of dealing with Ivo Karlovic and his big serve in the second round.

Malisse missed most of his 2007 year with a wrist injury. Since the time off the Belgian has struggled on the main tour and played mostly on the Challenger tour for much of 2008. Last week, he sent home Radek Stepanek, the defending champion in San Jose, in the first round but then lost in the following round. This week his victim is Tommy Haas. Now, all the Belgian has to do is follow up his upset with some more wins.

Preview:
City: Memphis, TN, USA
Surface: Indoor Hard

Championship Points: 500
2009 Singles Champion: Andy Roddick
2009 Doubles Champion: Mardy Fish and Mark Knowles
Draws: Singles | Doubles

Wednesday’s Results
Singles First Round
1 Andy Roddick (USA) def. James Blake (USA) 6-3 4-6 7-6(3)
Xavier Malisse (BEL) def. 4 Tommy Haas (GER) 6-4 3-6 6-4
8 Sam Querrey (USA) def. Rajeev Ram (USA) 6-2 6-3
Leonardo Mayer (ARG) def. Mardy Fish (USA) 6-4 6-0

Doubles First Round
WC S. Lipsky (USA)/D. Martin (USA) def. B. Becker (GER)/J. Chardy (FRA) 7-5 6-2

Singles Second Round
Ernests Gulbis (LAT) def. 3 Radek Stepanek (CZE) 7-6(5) 7-5
6 John Isner (USA) def. Jarkko Nieminen (FIN) 6-7(3) 6-4 6-4
Philipp Petzschner (GER) def. Evgeny Korolev (KAZ) 7-6(5) 7-6(5)

Thursday’s Order of Play

(Image:[Irina])