Gulbis takes on Djokovic in Montreal

Latvia's Ernests Gulbis reached the guaterfinals round of the Rogers Cup in Montreal. In the third round he defeated Donald Young (USA) - 6-4, 6-4.

His next challenge is Novak Djokovic (Serbia).

Gulbis’s presence in the last eight at the Canada Masters is a big surprise to many, including, one suspects, the Latvian himself. Known as one of the current era of tennis’s great underachievers, given his undeniable talent, Gulbis seemed to have pulled himself together in 2014 when he recorded a very strong first half of the season, cracking the top 10 for the first time after winning titles in Marseille and Nice and reaching a first Grand Slam semifinal at the French Open. But a shoulder injury troubled him for the rest of the season which was a distinct letdown, highlighted only by semifinals in Kuala Lumpur and Moscow, and things went from bad to worse for Gulbis when the new season began.

The big-hitting Latvian lost his first five matches of the season and had won just four matches in 17 events coming into Montreal, a painfully poor record. His failure to defend his Marseille and Nice titles or his run to the semifinals of the French Open – he lost in the second round to Nicolas Mahut – has seen his ranking plummet to world no. 87 and he entered Montreal as a qualifier. By virtue of defeating Dominic Thiem, Lukas Rosol and Donald Young to reach the quarterfinals, Gulbis has now won more matches in Montreal than he had done for the entire rest of the season.

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