At Last, Gasquet Makes Roland Garros QFs

Home, sweet home, at last.

For the first time in 13 tries, Richard Gasquet has reached the quarter-finals at Roland Garros, the Frenchman’s home Grand Slam. The 29 year old upset fifth seed Kei Nishikori 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 on Sunday to reach the final eight in Paris.

“[It was a] great match for me to win [against] the No. 6 in the world on central court in Paris,” Gasquet said. “I took a lot of confidence after winning that [first] set. I played much better in the second set, and also with the crowd cheering for me, it was a great moment.”

Gasquet had lost in the fourth round at Roland Garros four times previously (2011, 2012, 2013 and 2015). The ninth seed also had never taken a set off of Nishikori on clay, having lost in straight sets to to the Japanese twice earlier this month (Madrid, Rome).

But Gasquet owned a 6-2 advantage in their overall FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry. With the French crowd behind him and his picturesque one-handed backhand firing, Gasquet achieved personal history by playing more aggressive from the baseline.

“I knew if I want to win [against] this guy, I need to play very, very deep and very fast… If I’m playing short like I did in Rome and Madrid, I have no chance to win,” Gasquet said. “You also need to be able to whack the ball from the baseline, and that’s what I tried to do.”

He fell behind 2-4 before a 50-minute rain delay. When play resumed, though, Gasquet took over, winning 10 of the next 12 games to gain a two-set lead. Nishikori rebounded in the third, breaking Gasquet to force a fourth set.

But the Frenchman, wearing the blue, white and red of the French flag, broke Nishikori twice in the fourth and held at love to advance. Gasquet will face second seed Andy Murray in the quarter-finals. The Scot leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry 7-3, including their past five meetings. “It’s always important to have the crowd cheering for you, as they did it on the court, and I admit it made a big difference for me,” Gasquet said. “Of course it will be the same on Tuesday, but for sure I need to play a big match to win [against] Andy.”

Nishikori was trying to reach the final eight for the second consecutive year and match his best showing in Paris. Had he won, he would have become the second Japanese man to reach multiple quarter-finals at Roland Garros (Jiri Sato, 1931, 1933). “It was heavy [conditions], and I couldn’t really dictate with my forehand or backhand,” Nishikori said. “I think he played good tennis… I have to give him credit.”