Latvia is starting to develop its own array of sports stars since it gained its independance from the USSR. Ernests Gulbis is the newest of these sports stars - and boy, oh boy, the Baltic kid is sure talented.

Still only 20 years of age, Gulbis emerged on the tennis scene in 2006 when still a teenager. He has worked hard to move up the ATP rankings by travelling across the world to win small tournaments in places as obscure as Eckental in Germany, Tampere in Finland and Malmo in Sweden.

It was, however, his big break through on the senior ATP tour as well. Gulbis, in his first full tour event, reached the semi-finals of the St Petersberg International event in neighbouring Russia.

in 2007 Gulbis continued to travel the world seeking every point he could get on the Challenger circuit, still not wanting to put too much pressure on himself to participate in bigger events. He won titles in Bescanon and Sarejevo and produced the first big win of his career in the straight-sets defeat of Tim Henman at Roland Garros.

True, Henman is no clay court specialist, but to defeat the Brit as easily as Gulbis did in his first Grand Slam was some achievement. However, a string of first-round defeats saw Gulbis remain stagnant in the rankings until the start of the U.S. Open at Flushing Meadows. 

The young Latvian had the career breakthrough he deserved reaching the fourth round. His win against 8th seed Tommy Robredo in the third round became his biggest-ever scalp and the way he won was even more impressive, thrashing the experienced Spaniard 6-1 6-3 6-2.