Analysis for Gulbis-Andreev (ATP Indian Wells)

Head-to-head record 0:1

Another revenge for Australian Open comes here. Latvian Ernest Gulbis will play Russian Igor Andreev in the second round at Indian Wells. Our favourite for this match is Gulbis. Young Latvian player primarily employs an offensive baseline playing style, although is fairly comfortable playing from all court positions. Gulbis' most consistent shot is his forehand, which has been likened to that of American James Blake's for its rapid pace and relatively flat execution; his forehand is taken with a medium swing and with high levels of wrist action, which attributes to the explosive nature of the shot. His arsenal of forehand shots is nearly complete, and thus can be extremely disruptive and turn a defensive position into an offensive one. His running forehand has a slice action, but consistently lands extremely deep in the court, allowing for adequate recoil time to regain court position. Gulbis also has a particularly excellent array of finesse shots, including the high lob and drop shot, both of which he can strike from any position, including from deep in the court. His drop shot in particular has been noted as one of his more effective shots, as the power and depth of his groundstrokes push his opponents far behind the baseline, which makes the drop shot more effective. Gulbis' primary weakness is his consistency, which has been known to break down during tough situations. Gulbis' foot speed is only moderate, although his return of serve is varied and dangerous, particularly on second serves and, due to his height, kick serves. In his televised matches in 2007 and early 2008 his serve would have been described as moderate, but has recently vastly improved in speed and variety, having served out several games with no returns against the incredible returners David Nalbandian and Rafael Nadal. Despite having prodigious talent for his age, Gulbis can be prone to nervousness when down in a set or match, which can cause tight matches to be more mentally straining on him. Similarly to Marat Safin, Gulbis' playing style is extremely tactical and aggressive, and relies more on making winners than drawing errors, which can sometimes lead to a very high unforced error count. Gulbis began the year strongly by defeating former training partner Novak Djokovic in the first round of the Brisbane International tournament before falling in the second round to Paul-Henri Mathieu. He lost in the second round of 2009 Australian Open to Igor Andreev in 5 sets after beating Albert Montanes in the first round in straight sets. Gulbis was seeded 3rd heading into the 2009 Delray Beach Championships, but was defeated in the 1st round by former World No. 8 Marcos Baghdatis. His opponent, Igor Andreev, is an offensive baseliner who possesses one of the most powerful forehands on tour. However, he prefers clay and is definitely not as talented as Gulbis. Andreev´s play is based on incredible foot speed and consistent shots from the baseline. However, we believe that Gulbis will manage to hit back for Aussie Open and should be somewhere around 1.75.