Close one for Gasquet, almost winning against Istomin

Richard Gasquet has made his way in round no. 2 in the ongoing BNP Paribas Masters Tennis tournament. He was very close to winning his match against Denis Istomin in the opening round when the Russia international decided to pull out because of his troubled knee.

After having lost the first set in tie breaker, Gasquet had come back to win the second one comfortably by 6-2 and then, in the decider, he was leading by 4-0.

This win of Gasquet made the spectators smile eventually there in Paris.

Before Gasquet, a lot of local players had lost their matches and had been knocked out from the opening round leaving the crowd disappointed.

It appeared as if Gasquet was also going the same way when he played some shocking shots in that first set tie-breaker, but, thereafter, he improved his game and ensured he would not let any upset get created.

As far as Istomin is concerned, he had trouble in his knees from the first set itself, but, he carried on. However, with the movement on the court, it kept getting worse and worse for him and in the final set, he had had enough.

He spent a lot of time with his medical staff in the middle of that set though trying to get his problem sorted out, but, eventually, he made the call that the pain was too much.

It was the 5^th time in 6 matches that Gasquet beat Istomin.

Facing Gasquet in the following round will be Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain who is higher in rankings than him. The Spaniard is at no. 11 and that’s why, he did not play the opening round as he had a bye.

Gasquet, being out of top 16 in the world rankings, did not get the bye.