Richard Gasquet prevails over Mikhail Kukushkin in the second round – Rogers Cup 2012
Seeded 14th in the draw, Richard Gasquet of France, faced a late scare from Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Kukushkin but succeeding in winning it in straight sets 6-3, 7-5 in the second round of Rogers Cup in Toronto on Wednesday.
It took Gasquet an hour and 25 minutes to throw his rival out of this ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event.
Gasquet and Kukushkin won their serve in the initial five games to take the score to 3-2 in the former’s favour. The Frenchman struck in the sixth one and consolidated on it to build a 5-2 lead. Gasquet did not throw away his advantage
and captured it 6-3.
The French contender bombarded five aces on his opponent and put in 80 percent of the first serves in the opener. The Neuchatel, Switzerland resident maintained a brilliant conversion rate throughout, claiming 16 of the 20 first
and four of the five second delivery points. In comparison, Kukushkin served poorly, as he did not hit any ace and committed one double fault. The Kazakh player managed to hit just 40 percent of the first serves and converted just five of the 10 of them into
points.
Kukushkin drew the first blood in the second set, as he broke Gasquet in the sixth game to move ahead 4-2 but the Frenchman hit back immediately and in a short that he had evened out the score at 4-4. The following two serves were
held by both players to take the score to 5-5. Gasquet hit a blow to the Kazakh contestant in the 11th game and served it out at 6-5.
The Frenchman went up and down on his serve in the second set. The 26-year-old smacked one ace and committed three double faults, having a low first delivery percentage of 55 but capturing 13 of the 17 points on them. The 6ft 1in
tall failed to save the one break threat he came across, however, he converted two of the seven opportunities he created.
Gasquet has come here after a good performance at the London Olympics. The French star could not do that well in the singles category but did a brilliant job in doubles. He partnered Julien Benneteau to win Bronze Medal for his
country at the biggest sports event of the world.
The Frenchman faces a tough task in the next match here, as he will take on the fourth seed, Tomas Berdych, in the pre-quarters.
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