Richard Gasquet beats Pablo Cuevas at the BNP Paribas Open 2011
France's Richard Gasquet defeated Uruguay's Pablo Cuevas in straight sets at the BNP Paribas Open 2011. The second round match up saw the no.18 seed take the match 7-5, 6-3 in an hour and 14 minutes.
The BNP Paribas Open is the first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament of the year, and as such, features a field of 96 players competing for the final trophy. Out of these 96, the top 32 seeds are given a bye into the second
round. The Indian Wells Tennis Gardens in Indian Wells, California, are host to this event, the most popular one in tennis, besides the Grand Slams.
Richard Gasquet, expected since the age of 9 to be great, is one of the most technically perfect players to grace the tour so far. His sublime backhand is a sight to behold and has played a great part in his rise to tennis glory.
While he hasn't quite lived up to what was expected of him, the 24-year-old is currently world no.21 and has been ranked as highly as no.7 on the South African Airways ATP World singles rankings. His year so far has been quite good and he has won 8 of the
13 matches he has played in so far.
The Frenchman's opponent, Pablo Cuevas, has been playing the sport professionally since 2004. Uruguay's premier player, he is currently ranked 66th in the world at 25 years of age. His year has been better than most of his other
years, and he has so far won 4 out of the 10 tour level matches he has participated in this season.
Gasquet was obviously the experts' pick going into this match, and he did indeed live up to every expectation. The first set saw him deliver 66 per cent of his first serves correctly. While this was less than what his opponent
managed with 70 per cent, Gasquet's second serve was stronger. The Frenchman managed to take 78 per cent of his service points, compared to Cuevas' 67 per cent. He was also the slightly better returner, and this allowed him to convert the only break point
he created. That handed him the final game and with it the set.
The second set was a bit easier for the European; despite again serving a little worse than his opponent, he converted 95 per cent of the points on his first serve to race ahead. His return game was also immaculate, and he took
32 per cent of his total return points to convert one of his two break chances. This again handed him the set, and so the match was his.
Gasquet next faces either Julien Benneteau or Jurgen Melzer. Either player would be quite a challenge, but the in-form Gasquet will definitely look to get the matches over with quickly and move on in the tournament.
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