Jo Wilfried Tsonga battled past his compatriot Nicolas Mahut 7-6 (7-3) 6-7 (3-7) 7-6 (7-4) in 2 hours and 24 minutes in Montpellier to qualify for his first quarter final since Vienna last October. Tsonga had to dig deep to win a very tight match, as he won just four points than Mahut.
Tsonga dropped just seven points on serve and brought up three break points in the fifth game but Mahut saved them with three winners. Tsonga saved a break point in the eighth game to set up a tie-break. Mahut earned an early mini-break after Tsonga made a double fault on the second point. Tsonga broke back on the fifth point after Mahut missed a forehand on the fifth point. Tsonga got two more mini-breaks at 4-3 with a forehand winner and at 6-3 to bring up three set points. Tsonga closed out the set with a volley winner.
The second set went on serve until the 11th game when Tsonga fended off two break points with a backhand and a forehand winner to set up the set to another tie-break.
Mahut dropped just four points on serve in the second set and clinched the tie-break 7-3 to force the match to the decisive set.
Tsonga got an early mini-break to take a 2-0 lead, when Mahut made a backhand error. Mahut earned three mini-breaks to seal the second set, when Tsonga made a smash error.
Mahut faced an early break point in the first game of the third set and saved it. Both players held serve to set up a third tie-break. Tsonga hit a second ace on the final point to clinch the third tie-break by 7-4.
Richard Gasquet edged past his Davis Cup teammate Pierre-Hugues Herbert 7-6 (7-3) 5-7 6-3 after 2 hours and 8 minutes to reach his seventh consecutve quarter final at the Open de Sud in Montpellier. He will face Damir Dzumhur in the quarter finals.
The match between these two French players featured a total of nine break points and just three games at deuce. Each player got two breaks of serve.
Herbert saved three break points in the first game of the opening set with three winners. He broke serveat 15 in the second game when Gasquet sent a forehand long. Gasquet broke back in the fifth game, when Herbert made a half-volley error. Both players held their next service games setting up a tie-break. Gasquet got four mini-breaks to win the tie-break 7-3.
The second set went on serve in the first ten games with no breaks of serve. Herbert broke serve in the 11th game, when Gasquet missed an easy backhand and hit three service winners to seal the second set by 7-5 forcing the match to the third set.
Gasquet got the crucial break in the sixth game to open up a 4-2 lead with a forced error from Herbert. Gasquet held on his serve and sealed the win with a service winner to secure his spot in the quarter finals. He will be bidding to reach his sixth consecutive semifinal in Montpellier.
Karen Khachanov beat Rikardas Berankis 6-2 7-6 (13-11) in 1 hour and 29 minutes. The young Russian player faced four break points and dropped his serve three time, but he converted five of the eight break points he created.
Khachanov dropped just five points on serve and went up a double break in the third and seventh games to seal the seal the first set 6-2 in less than half an hour.
Berankis held his first three service games and broke serve in the fourth game to race out to a 4-1 lead. Both players traded breaks in the eighth and ninth games. Khachanov broke back for 5-4, as Berankis earned a chance to serve for the set. The Russian player broke again in the 11th game to take a 6-5 lead and served out for the match in the next game, but Berankis broke back at love to draw level to 6-6 to force the set to tie-break. In a very tight tie-break featuring 24 points and 11 mini-breaks Berankis fended off two match points at 4-6 before earning four set points at 7-6, 8-7, 9-8 and 11-10. Khachanov saved all of them before getting his sixth mini-break on the 24th point to wrap up the match and secure his spot in the quarter finals.
