TENNIS FRENCH OPEN – There is no better word to describe the 12th seed, Richard Gasquet ’s performance against Bernard Tomic in the 1st round other than simply “clean.” The veteran Frenchman put aside all thoughts of home crowd pressure and played his game brilliantly from start to finish. Cordell Hackshaw
Interviews, Results, OOP, Draws from the Roland Garros
There is no better word to describe the 12th seed, Richard Gasquet’s performance against Bernard Tomic in the 1st round other than simply “clean.” The veteran Frenchman put aside all thoughts of home crowd pressure and played his game brilliantly from start to finish. Even Tomic had to admit as much at the end of the match when he said, “I really struggled with his game, especially on clay. He really gave it to me today, and I could not do anything in the first few sets.” The Australian opponent soon found himself exiting his second major of the year again in the 1st round in just over an hour and a half. Gasquet booked himself a 2nd round spot with an emphatic 6-2 6-1 7-5 scoreline.
Gasquet got the early break in the 1st set at 2-1. Tomic broke back and held serve to even it at 2-2. However, he looked slow to get into the offensive position on the court, perhaps because of recent hip surgery. Thus, Gasquet found it easy to impose his will onto the match as he won 10 of the next 11 games giving him a 2-0 sets lead; 6-2 6-1 in just under an hour. Tomic was error prone and could not find his range, misfiring on both wings. He found some resolve in the 3rd set as he was able to keep the scoreline even till 5-5. However, Gasquet raised his level of play and secured the break as Tomic pushed the forehand long. Gasquet serve it out 6-2 6-1 7-5.
Gasquet and his fellow countrymen must tire of hearing about the drought of a French major champion. The pressure has increased many folds over as the Frenchwomen have been able to win an occasional major here and there, mostly recently Marian Bartoli’s 2013 Wimbledon victory. The last man to win was in 1983 when Yannick Noah took the title here in Paris. Despite the French adopting a more realistic stance on the subject considering the very talented pool at the top of the game, the pressure mounts each year at Roland Garros for the Frenchmen. Nonetheless, the French should be excited with the match statistics for Gasquet. He had 6 aces, no double faults, 33 winners and 12 errors. He won 84% of his first serve points, 55% of his second serves and faced only one break point. If Gasquet keeps this up, he can surely go far in this tournament.
