Gasquet Through To Second Week
Gasquet Through To Second Week
Gasquet improves his FedEx ATP Head2Head against Kyrgios to 5-2
No. 9 seed Richard Gasquet delighted the home crowd by winning his third-round match on Friday, advancing past No. 17 seed Nick Kyrgios, 6-2, 7-6(7), 6-2.
After falling behind 0/40 in the opening game of the match, Gasquet went on a tear by winning 13 of the next 15 points. Kyrgios struggled to find his footing in the first set, hitting eight winners to 14 errors. The Australian dropped serve down 2-5 to give the opening set to his opponent.
In the second-set tie-break, Kyrgios produced an error on set point at 6/5. Gasquet narrowly missed a backhand passing shot on his first set point at 7/6, but made good two points later and took a commanding two-set lead.
Gasquet grabbed an early break to start the third set, hitting a forehand winner to take a 2-1 lead. Continuing to frustrate the Australian with his variety, he earned another break to lead 5-2 and wrapped up the match on serve in the next game.
The Frenchman moves into the second week at Roland Garros for the fourth time. He’ll look to reach his first quarter-final in Paris when he next plays No. 5 seed Kei Nishikori. Gasquet leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry 6-2, but Nishikori has won their past two meetings this year on the clay of ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events in Madrid and Rome.