Andy Murray stunned by Richard Gasquet in the third round – Internazionali BNL d’Italia 2012
Fourth seed, Andy Murray of Great Britain, was upset by Richard Gasquet in three sets, 7-6(1), 3-6, 2-6, in the round of 16 at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome, Italy on Thursday. The Frenchman, Gasquet, needed almost three
hours to conclude a hard fought victory.
The first set saw a steady start from both players, as they held their serve in the opening six games to take the score to 3-3. Murray hit a blow to the Frenchman in the seventh and consolidated on it to go up 5-3 but lost two
games in a row after that, levelling the score at 5-5. The Brit and Gasquet took it to a tie-breaker by winning their serve in the following two and equalising it at 6-6. Murray was almost flawless later on, as he dropped only one point and won 7-6(1).
After losing a closely contested opener, Gasquet made the ideal start in the second set, breaking the Brit in the first game and holding his subsequent serve to attain a 2-0 lead. The Frenchman struck again in the fifth and consolidated
on it, stretching his advantage to 5-1. Murray pulled one back in the seventh game but dropped his serve again in the eighth to lose 3-6.
Gasquet and Murray went neck to neck in the opening five games of the decider to take the score to 3-2 in the favour of the former. The Frenchman went on a killing spree after that, breaking the Brit twice and winning three back
to back games to seal it 6-2.
In the post match press conference, a happy Gasquet shared, "It was a big match and I was a little disappointed for losing the first set. One hour, 20 minutes is tiring for me and very tough, but then I started to play well and
I broke him in the first game of the second set and I started to feel comfortable with my serve."
Murray, who missed the Mutua Madrid Open last week due to back injury, was troubled by the same problem during this match. He revealed, “I've felt it for some months, but I haven't had a chance to take a pause. I've tried not to
make it any worse, but the muscles get tired from compensating. I've got a lot of big events coming and there's not that much time to rest any niggles.”
Gasquet will next meet sixth seed David Ferrer of Spain for a place in the semi-finals.
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