The Sony Ericsson tournament has been quite a hit for Richard Gasquet who has put up quite a decent performance especially in the last few matches. He started off on a great note with the second round ending in a victory stint against Stebe. This victory led him to the third round against Ramos. He has been practicing a lot and this can be best seen with the performance in these matches. His winning of all the 3 sets with a score of 6-3, 6-2 has gone on to show that he has a great hold over the court and can improve in the years to come.
However once he entered into the third round with Ramos, his performance never deteriorated and he kept up to the same pace. There was consistency which could be seen as he won 2 of the three sets. This performance made him move on to the fourth round against Novak Djokovic.
Playing against Novak is what one can call tough competition and Richard Gasquet went thoroughly prepared. However even after putting up a brilliant performance he lost both the first two sets of the game and eventually lost the entire game. This has marked the end of the tournament and even the winning spree for Richard Gasquet.
However there is nothing to worry about. New tournaments keep coming up and he has not given up hope. He mentioned in the post match discussion saying that he plans to improve on his weak areas which he could figure out from today’s match and shall build up on them so that he can perform better in the tournaments to come. Richard Gasquet has put up a great show in the previous tournaments he has participated in and has always shown a keen interest to learn and improve.
Seeded at No. 5 in the main draw, Richard Gasquet, the home favorite, secured a whopping win over the 82nd ranked Go Soeda in the first round of the Open 13 on Tuesday. The world No. 15 just took sixty-three minutes of play to finish the game at 6 – 0, 6 – 2, moving on in the second round of the ATP World Tour 250 event in Marseille in France.
The French tennis star was totally ballistic throughout the game, dominating each second of the game to pressurize his opponent out of the match. Richard Gasquet just lost 2 games in the full match up and defeated Soeda all aspect of the game, saving one of the best displays of rich quality tennis to succeed the hearts of his local spectators.
The 5th seed slammed seventy-four percent of his 1st serve on aim, securing twenty-two out of thirty-four points on it as well as nailing 5 out of 6 serve breaks to drive the Japanese player out of the game in style. It was the very 1st time when Soeda went on one against Richard Gasquet and turned out to be a full mismatch for the belligerent French player. The twenty seven year old Japanese veteran had 7 break opportunities in the game he frittered past all of them to be at a disadvantage throughout the game. He did not succeed to hold his serve in the first 9 games of the match, showing his poor performance against the ex- top-tenner.
The Frenchman outclassed Soeda with his selective shot making and pin-point hitting. Soeda held his serve for the very 1st time in the 4th game of the 2nd set but it was too late for him to secure a comeback from that position. Once again, he held his serve but a squeezing break point conversion from Richard Gasquet in the 8th game showed decisive for him, securing the victory at 6 – 2.
Frenchman Richard Gasquet has been left out of the France Davis Cup squad that will square off against the Canadian Davis Cup team for the tie scheduled over the weekend due to poor form and fitness over the past couple of seasons.
The former world number seven has not been in his usual swashbuckling form over the past couple of seasons, having seen his rankings drop drastically from the top ten. He did not even make the semi finals stage of the first Grand Slam of the year, the Australian Open, losing in the 4th round quite easily.
The 25 year old former Mixed Doubles champion at the French Open of 2004 did not even make it through to the finals of the Open Sud de France, losing to seventh seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber in a nail biting finish in three sets. Richard Gasquet, although, has attributed his loss to his poor fitness and fatigue, having continuously played for the last two years without a break, the Davis Cup team of France did not include him in the squad for reasons explained by the team captain, as his loss of form, more than his fitness.
Gasquet is, however, looking to get back his touch ahead of the ATP Tour events scheduled for next year and he is also looking to represent France in the 2012 London Olympic Games as well. However, with his form dropping drastically, it is worth watching if the French Tennis Federation does send him as the official entrant in Singles for the Olympic Games with the likes of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gael Monfils in top form.
But Richard Gasquet is adamant about his entry in the Games and with time on his hands at the moment, all he can do is practice hard on his game ahead of the Games.
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April 30, 2012 9:09 am | 
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