BARTOLI RETIRES

Marion Bartoli has decided to quit professional tennis. She made that announcement yesterday in a press conference after her defeat against Simona Halep of Romania in the second round of the ongoing Western and Southern Open.

This announcement of Bartoli has shocked the entire tennis world. Nobody was expecting her to leave the game at an age of 28 only.

The Frenchwoman had recently won her maiden Grand Slam title by securing win over the German player Sabine Lisicki in the final of the Wimbledon Championships.

After that, she withdrew herself from the Stanford Classic because of her hamstring injury.

At that time, nobody had the clue that Bartoli was thinking about retirement. Her fans were hoping her to get fit soon and play at her best again in the last Grand Slam of the year i.e. US Open.

Announcing her retirement, Bartoli said, “It’s not easy to quit the game that you have played for so long, but, I think this is the right moment for me to do that.”

“I pursued my career for 13 years and I got the opportunity to fulfil my dream. People will remember me for the title that I won at Wimbledon. They are not going to remember me for the defeat that I suffered in today’s match.”

“I have suffered quite a few injuries this year and my body is not in a condition to take any more stress.”

“I had a phone conversation with my dad and I made him aware of my decision. He knows how hard I have worked over the years to fulfil my dream. He is a proud father.”

Bartoli’s father was her coach for most parts of her career. It was earlier this year in February that she parted ways with him.

SIMON MISSES OUT

Roger Federer has defeated Giles Simon of France in the fourth round of the French Open. Federer won the match in five sets by 6-1, 4-6, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3.

By the virtue of this win, Federer made his way into the quarter finals of the event.

This was the fifth match between these two players and Federer defeated Simon for the third time.

In the opening set of the match, Federer came all guns blazing. In the first game, Simon held his serve, but, after that, it was all about the Swiss superstar. He won the next 6 games consecutively with the help of breakthroughs in the 3^rd, 5^th and 7^th game and sealed the set.

In the second set, Simon put up a much better performance. The first 6 games went with the serve and the scores were levelled at 3-3 when the 6^th game got finished.

Simon got a breakthrough in the 7^th game to take a lead of 4-3. After that, the Frenchman just won his next two service games and won the set by 6-4.

Simon continued to be impressive in the third set as well. There were no breakthroughs in the first 3 games of the set and Federer had a lead of 2-1 at the end of the 3^rd game.

Simon went ballistic after that. He broke Federer’s serve in the 5^th and the 7^th game and bagged the next 5 games on the trot to clinch the set.

Now, after getting down by two sets, there was huge pressure on Federer, but, he didn’t break down under pressure. He raised his game and outplayed Simon in the next two sets.

In the fourth set, the Swiss superstar held his entire serve and broke Simon’s serve twice to seal it by 6-2.

In the decider, Federer was off to a lead of 3-0 with the help of a serve break in the 2^nd game. He didn’t let Simon come back after that. He won his remaining service games quite easily and grabbed the set by 6-3 to move into the final 8 where he will face another local player Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

GASQUET LOSES OUT

Richard Gasquet has been defeated by Fabio Fognini of Italy in the quarter final round of the Monte Carlo Masters. Fognini won the match in the straight sets by 7-6(0), 6-2.

This was the first time that Fognini defeated Gasquet. These two players had met a couple of times before this match and in both those matches, Gasquet was the winner. But, the Frenchman couldn’t continue his winning streak again Fognini yesterday.

In the post match interview, Gasquet said, “The credit must go to Fabio. He was fabulous and he kept pressure on me right through.”

“It obviously doesn’t feel good. I wanted to go all the way, but, unfortunately, today was not my day.”

In the opening set, Fognini broke Gasquet’s serve in the very first game of the match, but, he was broken back immediately and the scores got levelled at 1-1.

Fognini got another breakthrough in the third game and this time, he consolidated that with a serve hold in the 4^th game.

However, the Italian player again lost the advantage as he dropped his serve for the second time in the set in the 6^th game and Gasquet succeeded in equalizing the scores again.

The next 6 games went with the serve which made sure that the set would be decided in the tie breaker.

In the tie breaker, Gasquet committed a whole lot of mistakes and allowed his Italian opponent to take the set beyond him. The Frenchman didn’t manage to win even one point in the tie breaker.

In the second set, both the players held their serve in the first 5 games and Gasquet was trailed by 2-3 when the 5^th game finished.

Fognini didn’t let Gasquet win any more games in the second set after that. With a couple of successive breakthroughs, he won the last 3 games on the trot and moved into the semis.

GASQUET FACES ALMAGRO

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.

GASQUET LOSES OUT

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.

GASQUET MAKES IT THROUGH

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’ 7^th 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 10^th 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 12^th 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.