Ernests Gulbis has breakthrough win at Delray ITC

Ernests Gulbis didn't mind being a birthday spoiler at the Delray Beach International Championships on Sunday.

So what if it was the second-seeded Ivo Karlovic's 31st birthday. There was no time for being sentimental; the 21-year-old Gulbis had history to make.

He became the first Latvian to win an ATP title when he dominated Karlovic 6-2, 6-3 to win his debut career final Sunday.

``Everything I do, it's the first time for my country,'' said Gulbis, one of only four Latvian players ranked in the top 1,000. ``I was first one in top 300, first one in top 200, first one in top 100.''

The 72nd-ranked Gulbis, who will move into the top 40 with the win, was surprisingly composed for a man in his first final.

``He was really cool, calm, like nothing could impress him,'' said Karlovic, an Aventura resident who was planning to brush off the loss and head to South Beach to celebrate his birthday.

Gulbis made no mistakes and controlled the match from the start. Karlovic, unnerved by the wind, lost his serve on four occasions and double-faulted the final two points of the match.

Earlier in the day, defending champions Bob and Mike Bryan also carved out a piece of history with their 58th career doubles title, a 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) win over Philipp Marx and Igor Zelenay. The Bryans now have the second-most doubles titles in the Open era to Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde (61).