GASQUET THROUGH

Richard Gasquet has defeated Jarkko Nieminen of Finland in the semi final of the Thailand Open. At one point of time, Gasquet was on the verge of losing the match. He lost the first set and was trailed in the second set by 0-4. But, the Frenchman bounced back remarkably well from that stage and won the match by 3-6, 7-5, 6-2. Gasquet took 1 hour and 56 minutes to defeat Nieminen and make his way into the final.

The first five games of the first set went with the serve and the scorecard was saying 3-2 in the favour of Nieminen at the end of the fifth game. The Finnish player got a breakthrough in the sixth game and then, held his service in the seventh and the ninth game to win the first set by 6-3.

Gasquet was off to a very poor start in the second set. His service was broken in the first and the third game and he lost the first four games in a row. It seemed that the Finnish player would pull off a great upset. But, Gasquet managed to sneak a breakthrough in the sixth game and won the next three games to reduce the lead to 4-3.

Nieminen held his service in the eighth game and the score became 5-3.  Nieminen was just one game away from winning the match. But, Gasquet didn’t let him win any game after that in the second set. He won the last four games and won the second set by 7-5.

In the final set, Gasquet played high quality tennis. He got breakthroughs in the fourth and the eighth game and won the final set by 6-2. In the post match press conference, Gasquet said, “I didn’t play well at all in the first set and in the earlier part of the second set. But, I backed myself and that breakthrough in the sixth game of the second set really helped me to regain my confidence.”

In the final match, Gasquet will take on his compatriot Gilles Simon.