India, Sept. 2 -- Sport has a habit of throwing up names who look destined for greatness - the technique that sets them apart, the flashes of brilliance that build a wave of hype - only for them to vanish before they ever get there. Most fade quietly into obscurity. A few crash spectacularly, taking down giants along the way. Few have captured that second kind of story better than Ernests Gulbis - in many ways, he was Nick Kyrgios before Kyrgios ever arrived on tour.

Gulbis had the game to trouble even the best on their day - a booming serve, a fearless backhand, powerful and aggressive from the baseline. And he proved it. The Latvian, who reached a career-high ranking of world No. 10, beat Novak Djokovic, with whom he had trained as a t...