PARIS (Reuters) - Latvia's Ernests Gulbis reached his first grand slam quarter-final on Sunday after an efficient 6-4 7-6 6-3 dissection of Michael Llodra at the French Open on Sunday.

The 19-year-old, the only Latvian to have played a major, hammered 11 aces and reproduced the kind of form that accounted for seventh seed James Blake in round two to quash the swashbuckling net play of the unseeded Frenchman.

Gulbis used his big serve and driving groundstrokes to thwart Llodra's chipping and charging to run out the winner in a shade over two hours on a sun-drenched Court Suzanne Lenglen.

"I'm happy. I mean, after the match, I don't want to jump around and do crazy stuff. I'm just relieved that at last it's over," said Gulbis, who chose practice on clay over trying to qualify for Masters Series events in Hamburg and Rome this year.

Unseeded Gulbis took his chance on his only break point in the first set and sealed the opener with his fourth ace.

Llodra fought back from a break down to take the second to a tiebreak and used every tactic in the book, including two shots from between his legs to try and upend the Latvian.

But Gulbis stood firm, won the tiebreak 7-4 and charged through the third in 37 minutes.

Since Gulbis first announced himself on the world stage when he reached the fourth round of the U.S. Open last year, Latvia, a country whose sports fans are normally preoccupied by basketball and soccer, has started to sit up and pay attention.

"People are really interested in tennis at this moment," the Riga-born player said. "After the U.S. Open when I reached the fourth round, the courts in Latvia are fully booked always.

"If I go to practise at home, I don't get a court. It's full."

Gulbis trained as a 12-year-old with his quarter-final opponent Novak Djokovic at the Niki Pilic academy in Munich and believes his new approach on clay could be a successful one.

"One year ago, I was playing pretty stupid on clay. I was going for the shots when I didn't need to go for the shots. I was playing hardcourt tennis on clay," he said.

"But on clay it's different. This year I realised it and I change my game a little bit. I'm not trying to go for winners every time, only when it's possible, so it's paying off."

If the Latvian people are not yet convinced then Llodra did his best to persuade them.

"I think he's a beautiful player. I never underestimated him. You don't defeat Blake or (Nicolas) Lapentti just by chance. So I probably overestimated him rather than underestimated him."

(Editing by Pritha Sarkar)

Courtesy: Miles Evans, Reuters