Richard Gasquet will play against Nicolas Almagro of Spain in the fourth round of the Sony Open. The player who wins this match will get an entry into the final 8.
Gasquet got an entry in the pre quarterfinal round with the help of a win over Mikhail Youzhny of Russia. Gasquet beat Youzhny in the straight sets by 6-3, 6-4.
On the other hand, Almagro went past the Belgian player David Goffin to earn a fourth round place.
Gasquet didn’t have a great last season. But, in this season, he has been looking in astonishing touch. He had won just one title in the entire last season, while, in this season, he has already won two titles.
The first tournament in which Gasquet took part in the ongoing season was Qatar Open. He won that tournament by defeating Nikolay Davydenko of Russia in the final. He was trailed by a set in that match, but, he bounced back to win the next couple of sets and seal the title.
Gasquet then decided to withdraw his name from the Apia International Sydney Tennis tournament to have a bit of rest before the Australian Open.
In the Australian Open, Gasquet couldn’t even reach the quarter finals. In the fourth round, he was defeated by his compatriot Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
The second title won by Gasquet in the ongoing season was Open Sud de France. He beat his countryman Benoit Paire in the final of that competition.
The match between Gasquet and Almagro is expected to be a thriller. There is not much difference in the world rankings of these two players and both have been in cracking form in the tournament so far. Neither of them has lost a set in the tournament.
These two have locked horns with each other four times before and Gasquet has won only one of those matches. He would definitely like to improve his record against Almagro.
Richard Gasquet has been defeated by Gilles Muller of Luxembourg in the first round of Marseille Open. Muller won the match by 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(7/5).
This was a thriller of a match. Both the players kept fighting till the end, but, it was Muller who pulled it off eventually.
Gasquet was in a great position at one point of time. After coming back into the match by winning the second set, he was leading by 5-2 in the final set. But, suddenly, he lost the plot and let the game drift away from him.
Gasquet was going through a dream run before this tournament. Out of the last 17 matches that he had played, he had won 15. So, he was high on confidence coming into this match. But, he looked completely out of sorts in the opening set. He was thrashed by his opponent in the first set. But, the way he came back in the second set, it seemed that he has got back into rhythm now and he would dominate in the third set.
Gasquet started the third set in a dominating fashion, but, by playing some lose shots towards the end, he gave his opponent the opportunity to tie the scores. The set went into the tie breaker in which Gasquet again played some erratic shots and lost the match.
In the post match interview, Gasquet said, “I hadn’t expected to lose after getting ahead by 5-2 in the final set. But, it’s my fault. I really committed a lot of mistakes towards the end and that’s why, I am out of the tournament. It really hurts when you lose a match after getting into such a good position.”
In the second round, Muller will take on Marcel Granollers of Spain.
Richard Gasquet has made his way into the second round of the Australian Open with an easy victory over Albert Montanes of Spain in the opening round. Gasquet defeated Montanes in the straight sets by 7-5, 6-2, 6-2.
Montanes fought hard in the opening set, but, the next couple of sets were completely dominated by the Frenchman who took just 96 minutes to wrap up the match.
This was the fifth match between these two players. The previous four matches were won by Gasquet.
This was Montanes’ 7th consecutive defeat in the first round of the Grand Slams. He hasn’t managed to reach the second round of a Grand Slam after the French Open 2011.
Montanes made a decent start to the match. In the first four games of the opening set, both the players held their service and the scores were levelled at 2-2 at the end of the fourth game.
Montanes got a breakthrough in the fifth game to take a lead of 3-2. The next four games went with the serve and Montanes was ahead by 5-4 at the end of the ninth game.
The Spaniard needed to hold his service in the 10th game to win the first set, but, he didn’t manage to do that. Gasquet broke his service in the ninth game and then, held his service in the next game to take the lead of 6-5. The Frenchman sealed the opening set with another serve break in the 12th game.
After struggling a bit in the first set, Gasquet raised the standard of his game in the next two sets. His performance was brilliant in the second and the third set. He let his opponent win just three games in the last two sets.
In the second round, Gasquet will take on Alejandro Falla of Colombia.
Uncategorized | admin | 
March 27, 2013 2:33 pm | 
Comments Off on GASQUET FACES ALMAGRO