Quite the achievement from this player, who I believe was playing on the Challenger Tour not long ago.

 

Simon kinda ran out of gas after grabbing a nice break at the start of the third, and really struggled to hold his service games.



he was actually, during the Davis Cup week. I don't know why.

 

Anyone can explain why Simon has such trouble vs. Gasquet of all people? Is it because he doesn't get enough pace to counterpunch effectively? Is it because Gasquet is so solid in his ball-striking and doesn't commit many errors when not put under pressure? Is it because he has difficulty to read his game?

I mean, Simon had decent success vs. the other French guys, but Gasquet seemingly eludes him.

Anyway, Gasquet's run ends here, this is no secret.

 

That short/mid-court slice backhand cross-court to Simon's own backhand is very effective against Simon who has always had trouble with this particular shot. Struggles to properly come over the ball, and will often get forced into error or cough up the short ball/weak reply. Nobody on the tour employs this against Simon as often as Gasquet does, and I follow Simon religiously.

Gasquet can then attack it and go dtl into the open court, a combination we saw plenth of times today. Fantastic match by the way.

He doesn't give Simon much pace to work with either, and is extremely disciplined in these baseline exchanges. Doesn't go for too much on return, consistent first delivery (today at 75% 1st in), generally always makes Simon play. His backhand holds up tremendously well against Simon, who loves to play cross-court backhands all day. Richard is often the first to exploit the court positioning, as he executes these short angled backhands which pull Simon out wide first, more often than not. Plenty of open court to hit into.

First set was a tactical masterclass from Gasquet, other than the small dip while up 5-2. 2nd set, Simon really came out with the intent to take more initiative in the rallies and was quite aggressive off the forehand wing. Double the winner count for Gilles in this set. Served much better. Thought Gasquet might get tired in the 3rd, though he did well to take it.

Probably a bit of a mental barrier for Gilles as well, though they had not played since 2012 before this.