Richard Gasquet turns down Kevin Anderson in the second round – Western & Southern Open 2011
Rated at number 13 in the world rankings, Richard Gasquet of France, had to go through some tough time before he finally defeated the 35th ranked South African contestant, Kevin Anderson, in the second round of Western
and Southern Financial Group Masters, on Wednesday afternoon.
The entertaining contest took place at the outdoor hard courts at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, near Cincinnati, United States, with two of the fines tennis players competing extremely hard to take the better of one
another. Gasquet proved his supremacy over Anderson by finishing off the contest in straight sets, 7-6(4), 6-4, to make it into the round of 16 of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Masters Series event.
It was Gasquet’s second victory over the South African, as defeated Anderson in their last meeting in round of 32 at the US Open 2010, 6-4, 7-6(3), 7-5. The French is leads the head-to-head series against Anderson by 2-0 and is
yet to lose a set against the South African.
Seeded at number 12 in the tournament, Gasquet showed his true class to dispose of this year’s South African Open winner, Anderson, after a stiff contest. the Matchup continued for one hour and forty minutes of play before Anderson
succumbed in the second set to let his opponent in the third round of the tournament.
Anderson serve brilliantly in the matchup, firing 12 thudding aces and reeling off 35 out of 50 first serve points but converted just one out of his two break opportunities in the contest to finish on the losing side in the end.
Gasquet also secured 35 out of 46 first serve points in the matchup and converted two of his four break chances to dump Anderson.
Gasquet dropped serve in the very first game of the match but recovered in the sixth game to level the scores at 3-3. At 6-6, a tie breaker came into play and the South African crumbled under pressure to let Gasquet away with the
set at 7-6(4).
The French nailed a serve break in the opening game of the second set and then held the advantage till the end of the contest to conclude victory at 6-4. Gasquet will face the seventh seeded local player, Mardy Fish, in his third
round matchup for a place in the quarter-finals. Fish devastated former world number three, Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, in the second round clash on Wednesday.
Tags: