MONACO — Veteran Richard Gasquet beat Matteo Arnaldi 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 Sunday to achieve the second spherical of the Monte Carlo Masters as he makes his final look on the event.
The 38-year-old Frenchman is retiring on the finish of the season and was given a wild card entry on the clay-court event the place he shot to prominence 20 years in the past, beating Roger Federer in an exhilarating quarterfinal.
Gasquet then narrowly misplaced the semifinal to Rafael Nadal and did not fulfill his potential in a what-might-have-been profession as probably the most technically gifted gamers of his technology.
Armed with an beautiful one-handed backhand that tennis purists admired, Gasquet struggled in opposition to main gamers, together with a 2-19 head-to-head document in opposition to Federer. He misplaced all 18 matches to Nadal and 13 of 14 matches in opposition to Novak Djokovic.
In opposition to Arnaldi, Gasquet conceded 11 break factors. However the No. 39-ranked Italian transformed solely three and dropped his service 5 instances as Gasquet focused his second serve.
Valentin Vacherot of Monaco, a wild card entry ranked 259th, joined Gasquet within the second spherical with an upset 6-2, 6-1 win over Jan-Lennard Struff.
It was solely the ninth profession win on the ATP tour for Vacherot, who proved the higher server. He didn’t face a break level, hit 5 aces and received 85% of first-serve factors.
Jordan Thompson of Australia confronted big-serving Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard later Sunday.
