Richard Gasquet overcame Adrian Mannarino 7-6 (7-2) 3-6 6-1 in a rain-interrupted all-French clash at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati.
The 30-year-old was making his return to the tour after being out of action since Wimbledon due to a back injury. In the roller coaster opening set Mannarino was the first to strike after going up a break before being broken as he served for the first set at 5-4. Gasquet recovered from a 0-2 deficit in the tiebreaker to seal the first set lead.
Proceedings were even more complicated for Gasquet in the second set as Mannarino held his first two service games before getting his first break in the fourth game. Mannarino got the double break in the sixth game at deuce to race out to a 5-1 lead. Gasquet did retrieve one of the two breaks back in the seventh game for 2-5 but Mannarino held his service game after three deuces to close out the second set 6-3.
The scare was nothing for the world No.15 to threat about as he dominated the decider by grabbing a double break in the fourth and the sixth game to cruise to a 6-1 in the final set.
Gasquet won 80 percent of his first serve points, but made 32 unforced errors. The 30-year-old Frenchman will take on Kevin Anderson in the next round. Gasquet leads 5-2 in his seven head-to-head matches against Anderson, but the South African won his two matches on hard-court in the 2015 Australian Open and the Miami Masters in 2014.
Another French triumph was Gael Monfils, who broke serve three times to beat Pablo Carreno Busta 6-3 6-4. The first set went on serve until the seventh game when Monfils got the break at duece. The Frenchman grabbed the double break in the ninth game to clinch the first set 6-4. Monfils was forced to fight back from 0-30 to get the only break of the second set at deuce in the 10th game to wrap up the match 6-3 6-4.
Mikhail Youzhny cruised past US teenager Taylor Fritz 6-1 6-3 to set up a second round match against Olympic bronze medallist Kei Nishikori.
Finally, David Goffin dismissed Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili 7-5 6-3 to reach the second round in Cincinnati for the third year in a row. Goffin has set up a second round match against Bernard Tomic, who beat Joao Sousa 6-4 6-3.
