Richard Gasquet made a winning come-back at the Open Sud de France in Montpellier after being sidelined from the Australian Open by a back injury. The Frenchman did not face a break point in his 6-4 6-4 win over Ernests Gulbis.
Gasquet, who is bidding to win his third title in Montpellier, led 2-1 in his previous head-to-head matches against Gulbis but the Latvian player won their previous match in Marseille two years ago.
Gasquet was in control of the match and did not face a single break point in the first set. He broke once in the ninth game to take the first set 6-4. Gasquet was solid in the second set and broke again in the first game to take the second set 6-4 after 1 hour and 13 minutes.
Gasquet will face Marcos Baghdatis who fended off four of the five break points he faced to beat Japan’s Taro Daniel 6-2 7-6 (9-7). The Cypriot will take on either Richard Gasquet or Ernests Gulbis in the quarter finals.
Edouard Roger Vasselin beat fifth seed and this year’s Australian Open quarter finalist Gael Monfils 6-4 7-6 (7-5) to get through to the second round of the Open Sud de France in Montpellier where he will face Australian player John Millman. Roger Vasselin broke serve in the first game. Monfils, who won their previous head-to-head matches last year, broke back in the sixth game. Roger Vasselin broke again in the next game to clinch the first set 6-4.
Monfils broke early in the second set to race out to a 3-0 lead bur Roger Vasselin broke back to draw level to 3-3. The second set came down to a tie-break. Monfils took a 5-4 lead but Roger Vasselin reeled off three consecutive games to take the tie-break 7-5.
“I came back to Europe just four days ago. It was tough to play a good match”, said Monfils.
Eighteen year-old Alexander Zverev upset 2014 US Open champion Marin Cilic 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-1).
Cilic broke serve in the second game but Zverev broke straight back in the next game. The first set came down to the tie-break where Zverev prevailed 7-4.
The second set went on serve until 5-5 when Cilic broke serve. He was broken back as he was serving for the set. The second set was also decided by the tie-break where the German teenager cruised to 7-1 to set up a quarter final against his compatriot Michael Berrer, who beat Kenny De Schepper 6-3 6-4 after withstanding six aces.
