Frenchman Richard Gasquet’s rich vein of form came to an abrupt halt on Tuesday when he was beaten in the first round of the Marseille Open, going down 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/5) to journeyman Gilles Muller of Luxembourg.
Gasquet, seeded fifth and one of five top 10 players competing in Marseille, could only blame himself as he had battled back to one set all and led 5-2 in the decider, but wilted in the face of the risk-all approach of his left-handed opponent.
Muller, ranked 70th in the world, sealed victory on his first match point, putting in a brilliant return of serve, before finishing it off with a volley.
Photo: EPA
It brought to an end a terrific run for Gasquet, who had won 15 of his previous 17 matches this year, collecting the titles in Doha and Montpellier, France, to boot.
“I was a catastrophe from the moment I went 5-2 up,” Gasquet said. “It is me who committed the mistakes. I was a little tired, but at the same time I was eager to do well here. This match was not to be for me.”
“The umpire was useless, I was useless, everyone was useless,” the 26-year-old said.
Muller’s reward is a second-round clash with gritty Spaniard Marcel Granollers, who beat another Frenchman, the talented, but injury-prone Gael Monfils 6-4, 6-4.
Gasquet’s compatriot Benoit Paire, who was the beaten finalist in Montpellier, also bowed out, beaten by India’s Somdev Devvarman, who has slumped to 354th in the world rankings following an injury.
“I was sick and unable to get out of bed for two days,” Paire said. “However, having played so feebly I cannot get out of here fast enough.”
It was not all doom and gloom for the home players as Michael Llodra eased through to the second round by beating Belgium’s David Goffin 6-2, 6-4.
Llodra, primarily known for his doubles play, set up a rematch of last year’s final with defending champion Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina, who is coming off a title win in Rotterdam, Netherlands, at the weekend.
COPA CLARO
AP, BUENOS AIRES
Third seed Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland defeated Paolo Lorenzi 6-3, 6-3 on Tuesday to reach the second round of the Copa Claro clay-court tournament in Buenos Aires.
Wawrinka dominated the Italian throughout the match and closed out with a forehand down the line.
“I feel great,” Wawrinka said. “I got through in two sets. I feel on a good level for the first [match].”
Wawrinka has been studying Spanish and was asked to test out his progress.
“I’ve improved a little bit,” he said in English. “Only if I make the final I will try to speak in Spanish. It’s not easy. Too much pressure.”
Top seed David Ferrer’s late match against Agustin Velotti was postponed after rain earlier pushed the schedule back, leaving only a few hundred fans on hand at the Buenos Aires Lawn Tennis Club.
In a slight upset, No. 7 Pablo Andujar of Spain was beaten in the first round by countryman Albert Montanes 5-7, 6-2, 6-4.
In other first-round results on Tuesday, Julian Reister of Germany defeated Martin Alund of Argentina 7-5, 6-1, while Tommy Robredo of Spain advanced against Gastao Elias of Portugal 6-3, 6-0.
Spain’s Daniel Gimeno-Traver defeated Dusan Lajovic of Serbia 6-4, 7-5, while Leonardo Mayer of Argentina beat Simone Bolelli of Italy 5-7, 6-2, 6-3 and Andrey Kuznetsov of Russia beat Filippo Volandri of Italy 7-6 (7/5), 6-3.
Marloon Herrera was crying — happy tears. With Cuba trailing in the fifth inning of its Little League World Series (LLWS) opener on Thursday, Herrera lined a two-run double to give his team the lead. When the Czech Republic, representing Europe-Africa, made a pitching change, he ran over to give his third base coach a hug. Cuba went on to win 4-1. It was the first game at this year’s tournament for both sides, but it was also the beginning of Cuba’s second appearance in the series ever — and it was emotional. “You breathe baseball in Cuba,” manager Everaldo Machado said on
Taiwan on Friday beat Australia 11-0 at the Little League World Series in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Taiwan are represented at the tournament by Taoyuan’s Gueishan Elementary School, who won the Asia-Pacific regional tournament to earn the trip to the US. Australia are represented by the Hills Red team from Sydney. Taiwan advanced to a game tomorrow against Santa Clara, representing Cuba, who won 4-1 against the Czech Republic’s Brno, the Europe-Africa regional qualifiers. Australian starter Sayre Howick had a tough time controlling his pitches at Volunteer Stadium, one of which allowed Taiwan to open their account. They scored six in the inning and
World Boxing, an international amateur boxing organization formed last year after a breakdown in relations between the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Boxing Association (IBA), has announced the admission of Taiwan, along with four other nations, into its growing list of members. In a statement released on its Web site on Friday, the Swiss- based organization said that in addition to Taiwan, admitted as Chinese Taipei, Bhutan, Ecuador, Fiji and Pakistan have also become members. The new members all have well-rounded national and international boxing programs as well as transparency in the leadership and management of their national boxing programs,
COOLED DOWN: Du Plessis apologized after the fight for comments about his Nigerian-born opponent, after Adesanya said he planned to take the belt back to Africa South African Dricus du Plessis yesterday took a flurry of body hits across four rounds before defeating Israel Adesanya by submission to retain his middleweight championship at UFC 305. After scoring some early takedowns, Du Plessis (22-2) had to withstand a flurry of body strikes from Adesanya through the middle rounds, which appeared to be taking a toll on the 30-year-old South African as the fight progressed. However, a left hook followed by three rights helped bring Adesanya down, giving Du Plessis the opening he wanted as he swiftly got the choke hold that forced the Nigerian-born New Zealander to tap out