Ze Zhang stuns Richard Gasquet to enter quarters – China Open 2012
Local wild card entrant, Ze Zhang, surprised everyone after jolting down fifth seeded Richard Gasquet in a three-set thriller at the China Open 2012 on Thursday. He nudged up a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 victory against the world number 14 to power into the quarter-finals
at the National Tennis Center in Beijing, China.
The local starlet remained focused throughout the battle, ultimately sealing the deal in two hours and nine minutes. Battling each other for the first time, Zhang not only edged in the FedEx ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Head 2 Head Series by
1-0 against the French seed and advanced into the final eight at this outdoor hard court event.
"Today I had no fear," Zhang stated in a courtside interview after the match. "I was very much relaxed. I wasn't that nervous, so I tried my best to play with the utmost performance."
"I had chances to win this match and I made bad mistakes," the French praised Zhang afterwards. "He's talented. He plays aggressive and fast, and at the end he played better than me. I didn't play my best match, but it happens and it's because he's talented.
He deserves this victory."
Zhang stepped into his home soil tournament with poise. He smoothly swiped his entire serves without facing any hindrance. The Chinese cashed in the lone break chance in the ninth game and consequently clicked the opener with a 6-4 win.
The 26-year-old showed his class in the proceeding set. He got the coveted break in the second game and leaped to a 3-0 lead. Zhang held his composure and bagged his remaining serves, eventually sealing the equaliser with a 6-3 success. He pocketed his entire
serves without facing any hindrance and cashed in the lone break chance to get back in contention.
Gasquet maintained consistency in his game towards the final set and after breaking his rival’s opening serve, he jumped to a 2-0 lead. However, he stepped off steam after that and lost his track.
Ranked 165th in the world, Zhang on the other hand found his rhythm and recovered in the fourth game. He held his remaining serves through brilliant agility and cashed in another break chance in the last game, eventually sealing the decider with
a 6-4 score line.
Zhang will square off against the German challenger, Florian Mayer, who hit back to overpower the Romanian wild card entrant, Marius Copil, to reach this spot.
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