Richard Gasquet continues his hot run defeating Ernest Gulbis 7-6(5) 6-3 in a second round clash at Marseille.
Third seed Gasquet maintained his impeccable 2016 record (5-0).
The Montpellier champion will now face Australian young gun Nick Kyrgios in a quarterfinals brawl.
Gulbis has now been eliminated by a Frenchman in his last four tournaments, Gael Monfils in Rotterdam 4-6, 4-6, Gasquet in Montpelier 4-6, 4-6, and Jeremy Chardy in the Australian Open in five sets.
The Latvian threatened early in the match having a break point at 0-0 30/40, but Gasquet was saved by the Hawkeye as the challenged called was overruled in his favor.
With the 3-2 lead, Gasquet had his chances to break at 15-40. However, Gulbis denied the Frenchman with two consecutive aces and leveled the match at three.
It all came down to a decisive first career tiebreaker between both players.
Gasquet quickly gained a commanding 6-2 lead. Gulbis was able to save three set points, but it was not enough as a deadly slice serve from the third seed closed the set out 7-6(5).
During the second set, the Frenchman fought back a 15-40 deficit to break the Latvian’s serve grabbing hold of the lead 2-1.
Gulbis would immediately break back to equalize the match.
In a long deuce battle at 3-3, Gasquet was able to down the Latvian’s serve and subsequently hold to widen the margin 5-3.
A disrupted Gulbis, who during the match pointed out to the chair umpire that French fans were making noise to disrupt his serve in Gasquet favor, failed to hold and recorded the 7-6, 6-3 second round loss.
