Roger Federer was defeated by wild-card Ernests Gulbis 2-6, 6-1, 7-5 in the second round of the Rome Masters to record the biggest of his five Top 10 career wins.

“Well, actually I was s#*&!*!% my pants - sorry for the language, but that's the only way I can describe how I felt at 5-4 and at match point," Gulbis said of his nerves. "I couldn't get the serve in, I didn't know what to do, I was shaking. A terrible feeling."

Reflecting on his win, Gulbis said: "It feels great! I was shocked after the match. It's a great feeling -- that's all I can say. I don't have a word for it in English. It’s... indescribable."


“I don't think he played his best tennis because it was his first match on clay and I don't think that he liked the draw that he had to play against me," Gulbis said. "We had a tough match in Doha, also in three sets. [Today] I was very nervous and I didn't start well. He broke me immediately but after, I found my game and I didn't start missing so much and he started missing. I put a lot of balls in and I tried to run more and so it went my way.”

This was the first time since the 2000 Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters (l. to Novak) that Federer has lost his first clay-court match of the season.

"I hope I can bounce back, it's usually what I do after a loss like this," said Federer, who had beaten Gulbis in three sets in their first meeting at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open in Doha in January.

"Sometimes it takes a loss to shake your mind through. When you lose, you understand how difficult it is to dominate this tour. This knockout format is brutal - one week you are great and the next week you are terrible.

"My game wasn't up to speed, even at 5-5. My serve wasn't working at all by then and from the baseline I wasn't making the balls. I need to put in the hard yards."


(via ATP World Tour)

Ernests Gulbis shocks Roger Federer in Rome