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.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga has been given the top seed in the Apia International Sydney tennis tournament which is going to be played from 6th to 12th of January at Sydney, Australia. Tsonga’s compatriot and no. 10 player in the world, Richard Gasquet has been given the second seed.
Tsonga has had a decent last season. He won two titles i.e. Qatar Exxonmobil Open and Moselle Open. Apart from this, Tsonga also reached the final of a couple of tournaments.
On the other hand, Richard Gasquet managed to win only one title in the last season i.e PTT Thailand Open. Just like Tsonga, Gasquet also made his way into the final of two tournaments.
Confirming his participation in the tournament, Gasquet said, “I am looking forward to take part in this wonderful tournament. There are some big names participating in this competition including Tsonga and John Isner. So, it’s not going to be easy for me to go all the way through.”
“The last season wasn’t a great one for me. It was very disappointing that I managed to win only one title in the entire year. I want to do far better in the upcoming season. I have been training hard and working on the weak areas with my coach. Hopefully, there would be a considerable improvement in my performance in the upcoming season.”
One of the tournament officials of the Apia International Sydney Tennis tournament, Caig Watson, was also present in the press conference. He said, “We are delighted that quite a few top ranked players have signed for us this time around. I am sure that the spectators will see some wonderful tennis here.”
Apart from Gasquet and Tsonga, some other top quality players who will participate in this tournament are Marinko Matosevic, John Isner and Fernando Verdasco.
Richard Gasquet has defeated Jarkko Nieminen of Finland in the semi final of the Thailand Open. At one point of time, Gasquet was on the verge of losing the match. He lost the first set and was trailed in the second set by 0-4. But, the Frenchman bounced back remarkably well from that stage and won the match by 3-6, 7-5, 6-2. Gasquet took 1 hour and 56 minutes to defeat Nieminen and make his way into the final.
The first five games of the first set went with the serve and the scorecard was saying 3-2 in the favour of Nieminen at the end of the fifth game. The Finnish player got a breakthrough in the sixth game and then, held his service in the seventh and the ninth game to win the first set by 6-3.
Gasquet was off to a very poor start in the second set. His service was broken in the first and the third game and he lost the first four games in a row. It seemed that the Finnish player would pull off a great upset. But, Gasquet managed to sneak a breakthrough in the sixth game and won the next three games to reduce the lead to 4-3.
Nieminen held his service in the eighth game and the score became 5-3. Nieminen was just one game away from winning the match. But, Gasquet didn’t let him win any game after that in the second set. He won the last four games and won the second set by 7-5.
In the final set, Gasquet played high quality tennis. He got breakthroughs in the fourth and the eighth game and won the final set by 6-2. In the post match press conference, Gasquet said, “I didn’t play well at all in the first set and in the earlier part of the second set. But, I backed myself and that breakthrough in the sixth game of the second set really helped me to regain my confidence.”
In the final match, Gasquet will take on his compatriot Gilles Simon.
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January 17, 2013 10:22 am | 
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