A Year After Beating Roger Federer, Sergiy Stakhovsky Upsets Twelfth Seed Ernests Gulbis at Wimbledon

Sergiy Stakhovsky defeated twelfth-seeded Ernests Gulbis 6-4, 6-3, 7-5(7) to advance at Wimbledon. It is the second year in a row Stakhovsky has defeated a highly-ranked competitor in the second round. Last year he ousted Roger Federer. Ironically, Gulbis defeated Federer at the 2014 French Open two weeks ago.

Stakhovsky completely controlled the entire match and did not allow Gulbis to break him. But his serve and volley game also helped him win. He won 71% of his net points and did not double fault. It was this same style that brought down Federer last year.

Gulbis stopped seven break points against him, but he did not do himself any favors with unforced errors and double faults. He had a total of 31 unforced errors and his frustration showed in the third set. Gulbis did not smash his racquet as he is known to do, but yelled and cringed his face. He left the match with nine double faults.

The schedule is not out yet, but Stakhovsky will play the winner of the Jeremy Chardy and Marinko Matosevic match. After he defeated Federer last year, he lost his next four Grand Slam matches.