Nadal blows away Gasquet as French have a day to forget
IN the 1999 edition of Les Petits As Under 14 tournament in Tarbes, a cherubic French boy with a backhand to die for beat a kid from Mallorca with a loopy forehand.
Nineteen years later the players were the same but the result was very different as Rafael Nadal crushed Richard Gasquet at the French Open to continue a decade of dominance.
The No 1 seed extended his winning sequence over Gasquet to 16 matches with a 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 win on the day the French challenge for the men’s title faded.
No 16 seed Lucas Pouille could not claw his way back after resuming at two sets down againt Russian bruiser Karen Khachanov and lost 6-3, 7-5, 6-3. Gael Monfils squandered four match points in a bad-tempered clash with David Goffin that went the distance.
No 27 seed Gasquet has not won a set against Nadal since 2008.
The 31-year-old has never beaten him in a completed senior match, with his only win coming when the Spaniard retired from a Challenger in Saint Jean de Luz having lost the first set. Asked if he had considered trying anything different against the 10-time Roland Garros champion yesterday, Gasquet said: ‘No, I tried to play my game. It’s tough for me, because my best stroke is the backhand. With him, I’m going on his forehand. And on the diagonal, he’s just better than me.’
Monfils had his match under control before he lost to the classy Goffin 6-7, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 in four hours.
Monfils was warned for playing too slowly and seemed to blame Goffin. He angrily approached the Belgian and also complained to the umpire.