Richard Gasquet kept his ATP World Tour finals hopes alive when he overcame Fernando Verdasco 7-5, 6-7 (6/8), 6-3 to reach the third round of the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris, as fellow Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga crashed out of the race on Tuesday.
Ninth seed Gasquet, who is enjoying his best season since he reached the last four at Wimbledon and a career-high world No. 7 spot in 2007, looks set to grab one of the three remaining tickets to next week’s season-ending London event.
For a place in the last eight, Gasquet will take on Japanese Kei Nishikori, who ended local favorite Tsonga’s hopes by prevailing 1-6, 7-6 (4/8), 7-6 (7), after saving two match points.
Photo: EPA
World No. 2 Novak Djokovic started his campaign with a routine second-round 7-6 (3/7), 6-3 win over French qualifier Pierre-Hugues Herbert.
The Serb staved off two set points in the opening stanz, then stepped up a gear and never looked back. He next faces either the US’ John Isner or Poland’s Michal Przysiezny.
Gasquet has been nursing a thigh pain as the end of a long season looms.
Photo: EPA
“It hurts sometimes, but it’s not very serious. I played 2 hours and 45 minutes today, and I saw that I could play, although I was not at 100 percent,” the world No. 10 told a news conference. “It was tough to play a long match like this.”
Gasquet, who reached the US Open semi-finals in September, refuses to put pressure on himself.
“I had a good season. I’m very happy with what I did. I will not have a lot of pressure for this match. It’s sort of a gift for me to be here,” he said.
The Frenchman did not exactly shine in front of his home crowd, looking far from his attacking self in a 2 hour, 41 minute tussle and allowing Verdasco to put him on the back foot too often.
The Spaniard, who had won six of their past seven encounters, saved 14 of 18 break points, but Gasquet’s superb single-handed backhand eventually made the difference.
Gasquet wrapped the victory up on his fifth match point when Verdasco, an Australian Open semi-finalist in 2009, returned long.
Five players — Rafa Nadal, Novak Djokovic, David Ferrer, Juan Martin del Potro and Tomas Berdych — have already secured their places at the ATP World Tour finals in England.
Britain’s Andy Murray, third in the ATP Race to London, has withdrawn because he is still recovering from back surgery, meaning the ninth-ranked player will qualify for the O2 event.
Swiss Roger Federer, who is seventh in the race, will qualify if he wins his first match at the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy after a bye into the second round.
Compatriot Stanislas Wawrinka and Gasquet started the week in eighth and ninth place respectively.
Tsonga, who now cannot improve on his 10th place, came out firing against Nishikori, punishing the Japanese with his booming forehand.
He inexplicably lost focus in the second set, falling 4-1 behind. Although he managed to force a tiebreak, a string of unforced errors threw the match into a decider, which Nishikori won when his opponent double-faulted on match point.
TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS
AP, SOFIA
Ana Ivanovic and Simona Halep cruised to straight-set victories on Tuesday in their opening round-robin matches at the season-ending WTA Tournament of Champions in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Top-seeded Halep of Romania beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia 6-3, 6-3 in the Serdika Group, while the other tournament favorite, Ivanovic, routed Bulgaria’s Tsvetana Pironkova 6-0, 6-2 in the Sredets Group.
In Tuesday’s third match, third-seeded Maria Kirilenko retired due to injury against France’s Alize Cornet and had to quit the tournament for a second consecutive year.
Cornet was leading 5-0 in the first when Kirilenko called for a medical time out, before later abandoning the competition. Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina is to replace Kirilenko.
The US’ bid for a fourth consecutive CONCACAF Nations League title came to a stunning end as they fell 1-0 to Panama after a stoppage-time goal from Cecilio Waterman on Thursday in Inglewood, California. Despite dominating possession, the US struggled to break down a resilient Panama side for long periods. Panama spent the bulk of the match defending, but pounced on a giveaway by the US before substitute forward Waterman sent a shot from the right side of the area to the bottom left corner late in stoppage time. Up next for Panama in tomorrow’s final is to be Mexico, who beat
DOMINATION: McLaren drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris took the first two spots as Mercedes’ George Russell and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen followed them Australian Oscar Piastri yesterday roared back from season-opening disappointment in his home race by winning the Formula One Chinese Grand Prix from pole position in a McLaren one-two with championship-leading teammate Lando Norris. George Russell finished third for Mercedes, ahead of Red Bull’s reigning champion Max Verstappen with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Saturday’s sprint winner Lewis Hamilton fifth and sixth respectively. Piastri’s win denied Norris a third victory in a row, including last year’s Abu Dhabi season-ender, but left champions McLaren unbeaten in two races so far this year. “Mega job guys. The car was very, very lovely,” Piastri said
TO FINAL FOUR: France had 22 chances and scored two goals, while Croatia could not manage a single shot on target in 120 minutes. Les Bleus won 5-4 on penalties France on Sunday overturned a two-goal deficit to qualify for the UEFA Nations League Final Four by eliminating Croatia 5-4 on penalties after a 2-0 victory in their quarter-final second leg at the Stade de France. Dayot Upamecano scored the winning spot kick in a nail-biting shootout in which France keeper Mike Maignan made two saves, sending Les Bleus into the semi-finals against Spain. Michael Olise opened the scoring and Ousmane Dembele doubled their lead 10 minutes from time to send the tie into extra time after their 2-0 loss in Split, Croatia, on Thursday. France had a total of
BRING THE NOISE: Brazil’s Fonseca attracted a boisterous crowd that brought such dominant soccer-style energy the referee switched to Portuguese to ask for quiet Australia’s Alex de Minaur on Monday put an end to Brazilian talent Joao Fonseca’s challenge at the Miami Open, outlasting the 18-year-old 5-7, 7-5, 6-3 in an enthralling contest. Attendance on stadium court had been sparse throughout the day, but the Hard Rock Stadium turned into a mini-Maracana Stadium for Fonseca’s match, complete with Brazilian flags and soccer-style chanting. Fonseca brought his energetic brand of ultra-attacking tennis, but De Minaur was up to the challenge, coping with blistering forehands and a partisan crowd. Such was the dominance of Fonseca’s raucous support that the referee switched to Portuguese for his appeals for quiet. However, De
RSS