Richard Gasquet vs Gilles Muller – Quarterfinal Preview: Moselle Open 2011
Moselle Open enters its quarterfinal rounds and the second seed Frenchman, Richard Gasquet, takes on the eighth seed, Gilles Muller of Luxembourg, on Friday night.
The contest will be staged on the indoor hard courts of the Arenes de Metz, in the city of Metz, France, with the winner getting a berth in the semi-final draws of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250 event.
Rated at number 15 in the ATP World Rankings, Gasquet continued his brilliant form to force his way to the quarter-final rounds of the tournament as the home favourite. Being the second seed at the Moselle Open, the Frenchman received
a bye to have a direct access to the second round of the tournament to face the unseeded Belgian, Olivier Rochus. Gasquet absolutely annihilated Rochus in straight sets 6-2, 6-1, to book e place in the round of eight with the utmost ease.
The winner of six ATP singles titles, Gasquet is still hungry for a championship victory in the running season. He played 41 matches in the current year, seizing victory in 33 and suffering defeats in 18 of them but has not bagged
a title this season so far.
The eighth seed Muller is currently in his prime form, holding his best ever world ranking of 49. The Luxembourger competitor had a brilliant start to his Moselle Open campaign by outplaying the unseeded German, Philipp Petzschner,
in the opening round 7-6(2), 7-6(5). He then went on to dispose of the local wildcard entrant, Benoit Paire, in straight sets 7-6(5), 6-4, in the second round to book a battle with Gasquet in the quarter-finals.
Muller is currently having a winning record of 15-8 in the running year and is yet to grab the first ATP title of his career. The eighth seed contestant made it to the fourth round of the US Open earlier this month, where he was
defeated by the world number two, Rafael Nadal.
Gasquet has a clean record against the Luxembourger opponent in singles encounters. The two men only had one prior meeting, which took place in the round of 32 at the Wimbledon Championships in 2003, with the French winning in
straight sets 7-6(3), 6-3, 6-3. Gasquet has also faced Muller in three Challenger Tour occurrences, defeating the Luxembourger in straight sets on all occasions.
Muller has suffered a total of four defeats at the hands of the Frenchman and has no won a single set in any of the matches. Certainly the second seeded Gasquet is the hot favourite for the Friday night’s contest but Muller is
also enjoying his best form ever and he won’t succumb that easily.
“I started well which put me in great conditions in the match right away,” said Gasquet after defeating Rochus in the second round. “I think I served really well and did very few unforced errors. This is a great first round for
me and I expect a very difficult match tomorrow against Gilles Muller.”
With his aggressive game play and brilliant form this season, Gasquet is surely the favourite to win, though Muller’s crafty game is known to create trouble for top players on his best day.
Tags: