By Alastair Himmer
TOKYO, Oct 7 (Reuters) - Latvian qualifier Ernests Gulbis upset sixth seed Radek Stepanek 6-4 6-4 to reach the last 16 of the Japan Open on Wednesday.
The 21-year-old son of a Riga multi-millionaire, said to fly to some tournaments in a private jet, produced a superb performance of controlled power to brush aside his Czech opponent.
“Unfortunately I started playing well at the end of the season,” Gulbis told reporters. “I was playing like a Spanish player—two metres behind the baseline doing nothing.”
The Latvian credited new Argentine coach Hernan Gumy, once mentor to former world number one Marat Safin, for his reversal of fortune.
“He has given me a lot of tips to get back my game,” said Gulbis, yet to win back-to-back games on the ATP Tour this year.
“I’m playing my game, being more aggressive. Things have stabilised now. Tennis is a game of confidence. When you win, you don’t think. I thought too much before.”
Gulbis plays Juan Monaco in his next match after Spain’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez retired with illness after going down 5-0 down to the Argentine in their first-round clash.
Wednesday’s matches were being played under a closed centre court roof as typhoon rain lashed Tokyo Bay.
The $1.25 million event lost its top seed on Tuesday when Juan Martin del Potro suffered a shock defeat in his first match since beating Roger Federer in last month’s U.S. Open final.
The towering Argentine was the main attraction after world number one Federer and third-ranked Andy Murray pulled out.
In other first-round matches, Russian Mikhail Youzhny blew away Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci 6-2 6-3 to set up a meeting with French third seed Gilles Simon.
Andreas Beck overcame former Australian Open finalist Rainer Schuettler 6-3 4-6 7-6 in a German battle and will take on defending Tokyo champion Tomas Berdych next.