Richard Gasquet of France stunned top seed Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-6 2-6 7-5 in the second round of the BOSS Open in Stuttgart on Thursday. The pulsating match went on for well over two hours, as the veteran Frenchman managed to scrape through in the end. It was the 600th career win for Gasquet, who has spent more than two decades as a professional tennis player.
Gasquet will face Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany in the quarterfinal on Friday. He will have his task cut out against the big-serving German, but the Frenchman will try to draw inspiration from his win over Tsitsipas.
Stefanos Tsitsipas’ attack vs. Richard Gasquet’s defence:
Tsitsipas was expected to attack the Frenchman with his big serve and forehand and he did precisely that throughout the match. The Greek won a lot of points with the help of his inside-in forehand. Moreover, he also fired 19 aces in the match.
However, the 36-year-old Gasquet defended very well from the baseline. His movement on the court belied his age at times. Tsitsipas raced to a 3-0 lead in the first set, but Gasquet broke back to level the score and take the set into a tie-break.
The Frenchman continued to fight tooth and nail in the tie-break and managed to win it 10-8.
Tsitsipas rushed the net to attack, but Gasquet came up with passes and lobs:
Tsitsipas rushed the net more frequently from the second set onwards to put Gasquet under pressure and also broke him on a couple of occasions in the set to draw level. He played a few very good approaches before moving forward to finish points with volleys.
He continued to follow the same tactic in the third set as well, but Gasquet came up with a few very good defensive lobs and passes to thwart him at times. Tsitsipas managed to save a couple of match points in the 12th game of the third set, but Gasquet then converted one to finish the match off.
Main Photo Credit: Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports
