Gulbis reached a turning point in his career.  Back in Rome in 2010, he upset Roger Federer in the second round.  He reached the semifinals where he took one of two sets that anyone had taken off him in the clay season (the other player to take a set was Nicolas Almagro).  But he got hurt in the French Open, and after that, his game didn’t seem to go anywhere.

Now some of that had to do with injury and various illnesses.  We’re so used to seeing players like Federer who stays uncannily healthy that we don’t realize that injuries affect most players.  Consider Monfils or Tsonga or Roddick who have had various injuries afflict them.  Indeed, Roddick was supposed to play Los Angeles but didn’t due to injury.  Even though players like Gulbis are playing about a match a week (unless they also play doubles), they can still get injured.

Gulbis had been working with Hernan Gumy, the former coach of Marat Safin.  Gumy had family issues and split up with Gulbis who was then briefly coached by Darren Cahill, and has been working with Guillermo Canas, a former tour player from Argentina who only retired last year.  Canas has apparently adjusted Gulbis’s forehand.  In particular, Gulbis used to set his racquet near his head when he started the motion.  Gulbis now has the racquet further away from his body.  The motion isn’t drastically different.

During this period of time since Wimbledon, Gulbis has lost five first round matches, as the two get adjusted.  Finally, at Los Angeles, Gulbis has gotten his game to work.  He rushed to a 6-2 lead over del Potro.  del Potro’s game was a little error-prone today.  The two played long backhand rallies, which Gulbis was winning earlier.  del Potro got a break in the second set, but Gulbis was able to break back, and then to break again.  Gulbis eventually held to win the match, 6-4.

In a surprise upset, Alex Bogomolov has been playing some of his best tennis.  He lost the first set handily to Thomaz Bellucci, but came back to win the next two sets, including a 6-1 third set.  This means there are 3 Americans in the semifinals with Ernests Gulbis the lone non-American.

Neither Sam Querrey nor Andy Murray are playing Los Angeles.  Querrey had some surgery so he hasn’t played recently.  Andy Murray only played Los Angeles because last summer was relatively cool in Miami and he thought it might do him some good just to play a tournament.  Novak Djokovic was expected to play last year (and might have moved to number 2 in the world, except Federer had a very good summer at Toronto and Cincinnati) at Los Angeles, but dropped out and Andy Murray basically subbed in.  With the heat wave, Murray’s training in Miami is as hot as it could be.

So now, can Fish beat Harrison again.  Harrison should make some adjustments, and perhaps play Fish a little closer.  Meanwhile, Bogomolov plays Gulbis.  Gulbis should have more experience.  If he plays like he played against del Potro, it should be too much for Bogomolov.  It just depends on Gulbis’s head.

In Gstaad held in Switzerland (not to be confused with Bastad, which is in Sweden), the Swiss Open is decidedly Spanish.  Federer almost never plays Gstaad, preferring to rest and train until Canada.  Almagro has been having a very good summer.  He is going to face Verdasco again.  The two played each other last week in Hamburg with Almagro winning that match.  In the other semifinal, Marcel Granollers who upset Stan Wawrinka will play Mikhail Youzhny.  Youzhny also reached the semis of Hamburg losing to Gilles Simon (who won Hamburg).

In Umag, held in Croatia, the semifinalists are all from different countries.  Juan Carlos Ferrero, who wont Stuttgart two weeks ago, is in the semis again and will face Alex Dolgopolov.  In the other semis, Fognini plays Cilic.  Cilic had a tough loss to Youzhny last week, so it’s good to see him recover and reach a semifinal.  He’s been trying to gain the form he had at the start of 2010.