Unheralded qualifier Ernests Gulbis of Latvia showed his potential by upsetting sixth seed Radek Stepanek in the first round at the Japan Open tennis tournament on Wednesday.
The 21-year-old Latvian, ranked 98th against Stepanek's 16th, used his serve to score a solid 6-4, 6-4 victory over the Czech player.
Gulbis fired a total of 13 aces and saved all five break points against him in the 65-minute match.
Gulbis said he struggled with a left knee injury during the season, but regained his confidence after playing Britain's Andy Murray in the US Open last month despite a three-set loss.
"I played the way which I normally play -- an aggressive game -- so now I'm happy about the way the things are going," said Gulbis.
"I have a couple of more tournaments this year. But even if I lose, then I will have a good off-season practice and next year I'm going to come back. I'm going to play the same and I hope I can play better than I did today.
"I don't see the reason why I shouldn't play better and better... I hope to reach top 10 (in the) next two years' time," added the Latvian.
In the second round, Gulbis will take on Juan Monaco of Argentina, the winner over Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain who abandoned the match at 0-5 down.
In other first-round action, Mikhail Youzhny of Russia beat Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil 6-2, 6-3 to set up a meeting against third seed Gilles Simon of France.
Andreas Beck edged past fellow German and 2003 Tokyo champion Rainer Schuettler 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (7/3) for a place against defending champion Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic.
Copyright 2009 AFP Global Edition
