GASQUET LOSES TO SOUTH AFRICAN

Richard Gasquet has been defeated by Kevin Anderson of South Africa in the second round match of the BNP Paribas Masters. Anderson won the match by 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-1. With this victory, Anderson has made his way into final 16. This was the fourth match between these two players and surprisingly, Gasquet has lost all those matches. However, Anderson didn’t manage to walk away with the victory easily. He had to face a tough competition from the Frenchman for 2 hours and 17 minutes.

In the first set, neither of the two players managed to get a breakthrough in the first 12 games and the scores were tied at 6-6 at the end of the 12^th game.  Both the players got quite a few break opportunities, but, they weren’t able to cash on any of them.  Gasquet got a total of four break points, while, Anderson got a couple of break points. In the tie breaker, Gasquet got nervous and played some ordinary shots. He lost some early points which allowed Anderson to seal the set.

The start of the second set was pretty similar to the first one. The first eight games went with the serve. But, in the ninth game, Gasquet got a breakpoint and he didn’t miss out on that occasion. He capitalized on that break point and got ahead by 5-4. He easily served out the next game and won the second set.

But, in the final set, Anderson was all over Gasquet. The South African played with a brutal approach and won the first 5 games consecutively. Gasquet managed to hold his service in the 6^th game, but, that was not going to make any difference. Anderson finished the match with a serve hold in the next game.

In the third round, Anderson will take on Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic.