To this point of the French Open, Ernests Gulbis has made a lot of noise with his comments about women's tennis players and his fourth-round upset of Roger Federer.
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On Tuesday, Gulbis made a lot of noise about being a legitimate contender to win his first Grand Slam.
The No. 18-seeded Gulbis dominated sixth-ranked Tomas Berdych 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 to advance to the semifinals of the French Open. Gulbis will face No. 2 Novak Djokovic in one semifinals matchup. Djokovic disposed of Milos Raonic 7-5, 7-6 (5), 6-4 in Tuesday's other quarterfinal.
From the start of Gulbis' match against Berdych, he was the steadier player, racing out to a 4-0 lead in the first set. Berdych finally found a groove and won the next two games, but after that Gulbis came up with shot after shot at critical moments to quash any Berdych rally.
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After defeated Radek Stepanek in the third round, the outgoing Gulbis created waves when he was asked about wanting his younger sisters to follow his footsteps into the ranks of professional tennis.
"Hopefully they will not pursue professional tennis career. Hopefully. Because for a woman, it's tough. I wouldn't like my sisters to become professional tennis players. It's tough choice of life," Gulbis said, according to Stephanie Myles of Yahoo Sports. "A woman needs to enjoy life a little bit more. Needs to think about family, needs to think about kids. What kids you can think about until age of 27 if you're playing professional tennis, you know.
"That's tough for a woman, I think."
The comments upset a few women's players and were criticized in the media. But rather than let the controversy affect him, he went out and defeated the 17-time Grand Slam champions Federer in five sets, ending Federer's run of consecutive quarterfinals appearances at Roland Garros at nine.
He has played Djokovic five times during his career, winning once at Brisbane in 2009. The two have met once at the French Open, with Djokovic winning 7-5, 7-6 (3), 7-5.
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