The first racket of Latvian men’s tennis Ernests Gulbis lost to Russian tennis player Aslan Karacev in the first round of the qualifying tournament of the Nursultan ATP “World Tour 250” series taking place in Kazakhstan with the result 6-7 (3: 7).
Swan is 175th in the ATP rank, but Karacev is in 113th place and was placed with the fifth number in the qualification.
Losing the first round of the selection, Gulbis did not reach the ATP ranking points
Gulbis started the match with two breaks and reached 4-0 in the first set, but then lost two consecutive serves, which allowed the opponent to equalize the course of the fight. The set winner was revealed in Taiwan, where Karacev quickly took the lead and prevailed. In the second set, Gulbis was no longer able to show resistance and gave up 1-6.
The two tennis players have met each other three times before, all in 2020, all three consecutive weeks in the ATP “Challenger” series tournaments, all the time when the Russian tennis player wins the eighth final. Gulbis lost twice in Prague – 3-6, 3-6 and 2-6, 1-6 – and once in Ostrava – 1-6, 4-6.
During his career, Gulbis has won six tournament winner titles in a single match, while his opponent has not been at the ATP level.
After returning to the tennis courts in the three tournaments already mentioned, Gulbis first celebrated the victory, then suffered a loss against Karacev.
He then suffered four losses in the first round of the ATP Tournaments – the ATP Tour 250 Series in Kitzbühel, the ATP Tour Masters 1000 Series in Rome, the French Open and the ATP Tour 500 in St. Petersburg. The last loss occurred in mid-October. Unlike the previous three times, when a senior tennis player was lost, St. Petersburg had to give up the world number 478 from Russia Alen Avidzb with 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (2: 7).
Swan has gone to the court in official matches 32 times this season, of which he has celebrated victory in 20 cases.
The tournament takes place on hard surfaces.
