By Moin Salahuddin
Daily Bruin Staff
Returning to the same courts where he honed his game, Justin
Gimelstob put on a show for a packed crowd in Straus Stadium
Thursday night at the Los Angeles Tennis Center.
Down a set and playing against the top-seed in the Mercedes-Benz
Cup, Gimelstob managed to summon the energy to come back and defeat
Australian Mark Philippoussis in a thrilling three-set match: 3-6,
7-6(5), 7-6(3).
“I get a lot of energy coming here,” former Bruin
All-American Gimelstob said of UCLA. “I felt comfortable
playing at home in front of the big crowd.”
But that wasn’t the story early on.
Capturing the last eight points of the first set and breaking
the American twice, Philippoussis easily won the first set 6-3.
But neither of the 6-foot-5 powerhouses let their serve down, as
each held serve for the remaining two sets, ““ an incredible
25 straight games without a break.
That left the match up to the two crucial tie-breakers, of which
Gimelstob took control.
After splitting the first 12 games of the second set, the
24-year-old Australian took an early 4-2 lead on a 122 mph ace in
the tie-break.
An errant forehand by Philippoussis made the score 4-3, but the
following point dramatically changed the complexion of the
match.
Gimelstob apparently hit a forehand winner that Philippoussis
lunged at, striking it back at a surprised Gimelstob. The American
then dove for the ball, hitting another winner that the Australian
managed to stab. But luckily for Gimelstob, the ball landed several
inches wide and brought him to 4-4.
“Lunging, falling, diving. That was pretty good,”
Gimelstob said. “That helped give me some
momentum.”
After several more unforced errors, Gimelstob evened up the
match with a powerful 110 mph serve that Philippoussis
couldn’t handle.
The decisive third set also went according to form, with both
big men pounding the ball and each other into submission. After
another 12 games, the duo faced their final test of the night: a
third-set, winner-take-all tie-breaker.
Both players exchanged minibreaks to start 1-1, but Gimelstob
quickly went up 3-1 on successive forehand errors by
Philippoussis.
“He always goes for big shots,” Gimelstob said of
Philippoussis. “I don’t think he was particularly
sharp.”
But Gimelstob came to life, smacking a forehand volley to propel
himself to a 4-1 lead in the tie-breaker.
Another error by Philippoussis and a forehand winner by
Gimelstob brought the American to quadruple match point at 6-2, of
which Philippoussis managed to save one.
With a crosscourt volley winner on his second match point, and
at the end of the two hour, 15 minute marathon, Gimelstob flung his
racket into the air and pumped his fists in euphoria.
“He’s a confidence player,” Philippoussis
said. “At five-all, six-all, he gets more
confident.”
The players combined for 28 aces, with Philippoussis’
serves reaching near the 140 mph range.
“I think I served well,” Gimelstob said.
“That’s a lot of aces. You just got to concentrate on your
service game.”
Yet despite the 10 double faults that Gimelstob committed along
with his plethora of aces, the most telling stat of the night was
the break points he saved ““ an amazing five of seven.
“I went for too much today,” Philippoussis said.
“Little points that pretty much gave him the set. I was going
for shots that I shouldn’t be going for.”
Gimelstob advances to the quarterfinals Friday where he will
face fellow American Paul Goldstein.