Nicolas Almagro ousts Richard Gasquet in third round – Rogers Cup 2011
Cruising through the Rogers Cup 2011, Nicolas Almagro penetrated into the quarterfinal round beating Frenchman Richard Gasquet in straight sets 7-6(5), 6-3. It took the world No.10 one hour and 45 minutes to take his win over the
French world no.13. Although, Gasquet had a greater probability to win on hard circuit, the Stade Uniprix Centre in combination of the Spaniard world No.10 proved ‘de trop’ for the Frenchman.
The two have faced each other previously on three different occasions. The Spaniard not only dominated the clay but the hard court as well. The 3rd round fixture of the Rogers Cup had a 50-50 percent bet on both the
players. However, Almagro sailed on ahead while Gasquet ticketed his way back home.
Starting off with the match, Gasquet opened the first set serving first winning game 1, 1-0. The world No.13 dominated the second game as well when he won his first breakpoint of the match, extending his lead to 2-0. The Frenchman
won his 3rd consecutive game, game 3, rolling the scorecard to 3-0.
Almagro broke free when he won game 4 and game 5 cutting the Frenchman’s lead to 2-3. However the 25-year-old French converted 2 games including a breakpoint to gain back his lead, 5-2. The Frenchman finally took back the beating
when the Spaniard twisted the game to level the scores at 5-5 breaking his rival world No.13 in game 9.
The set eventually led to a tiebreaker. Surprisingly, the Spanish nicked away a lucky shot and went on winning the first set 7-6(5) though struggled at the start.
The second set came easy for the Spaniard world No.10 as he opened up the set serving first and taking the advantage lead. The game continued until Almagro broke the Frenchman leading from3-2 to 4-2. The Spaniard converted his
comfortable lead into a second set 6-3 and the match win.
Statistically, the two players had not played any different. Both has the same number of aces and broke each other almost equal. However, Almagro came out as the stronger competitor winning 81 points in total against 72 of Gasquet
and winning his seat in the quarter-final round of Rogers Cup 2011.
Although Almagro has been a strong competitor and has been cleaning up his rivals in straight sets, his real challenge comes in the quarter-final round when he faces a pool of the top seeds in the world. Chances are that when he
play against “the Federer destroyer” Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, he might taste bitter defeat. However, that is yet to see who actually wins.
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