Richard Gasquet dodges upset against Thomaz Bellucci in the opening round – Mutua Madrid Open 2012
French tennis icon, Richard Gasquet, opened the Mutua Madrid Open campaign with a three-setter thriller on Tuesday. He stole the win 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(5) from the 69th ranked Brazilian, Thomaz Bellucci, taking almost two
hours and 43 minutes.
Gasquet is the 14th seed contestant of the tournament but he faced a lot of trouble in ousting an underdog on Tuesday. He started off miserably; dropping the first breakpoint in the fifth game. He tried to keep the set
alive but failed to register any breakthrough that boosted the chances of an upset by Bellucci.
The second set witnessed a tight battle all the way, with no breakthroughs being witnessed until the last game to lift the interest of the spectators. It was an edge of the seat contest and everyone wanted the 25-year-old French
to break serve and prolong the match further. He did exactly that in the 10th game of the second set that gave no opportunity to the Brazilian to win the break back and keep the set alive.
Suddenly, the odds went down for the 69th ranked Brazilian but his confidence didn’t drown one bit. He was out there to fight it until the end. Spectators were delighted to witness such a cracking encounter and eagerly
waited for the final set to began.
Both players capitalized on their serves in the first five games before the French starlet broke serve and took the lead. He gusted away to scores of 5-2 and exerted a lot of pressure on his counterpart.
Everyone thought that Bellucci would not be able to absorb the pressure but he proved them wrong and won a breakpoint back in the ninth game to diminish the trail and levelled the scores with a thumping serve hold.
Soon, the tie-breaker round was into play and Gasquet took advantage of his experience; didn’t try to act smart and just kept the point alive that frustrated his opponent who made few silly mistakes to throw away a golden opportunity
of advancing to the next rounds.
Richard Gasquet plays the Serb star, Viktor Troicki, in the second round of the tournament.
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