Roger Federer was beaten by Ernests Gulbis 2-6, 6-1, 7-5 in his opening match at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome.
It was Federer’s first singles match on clay after taking a break of several weeks.
Federer had a great startand easily took the first set, but Gulbis bounced back and dominated Federer in the second. The world number 1 didn’t face a break point until the fourth game of the second set when Gulbis broke and took a 3-1 lead. Gulbis broke again to go up 5-1 and had not problems to close the set.
Gulbis was able to prevailed before fighting off nerves at the end and finally closed out the match on his seventh match point.
Federer made 38 unforced errors to Gulbis’ 39, and trailed 20-33 in winners. The French Open champion struggled with his serve, landing only half of his first attempts to Gulbis’ 71 percent.
“You can’t go 100 percent winning throughout the season,” said Federer. “Sometimes when you are winning, it seems too easy. When you lose you realise how tough it is to dominate the tour. So I won’t get carried away with the defeat.”
“It’s easier to take because I’m used to so much winning,” said Federer. “I’m not worried. It’s always like that when you touch a new surface and lose. I think there could have been some good tennis at the back end of the tournament if I’d made it through.
“The French Open is at the back of my mind. Winning three, four, five matches in a row is on my mind and that’s why I’m happy to be playing in Estoril next week.”
