Gasquet beats Ferrer 3-2

Well done Richard. A notable victory due to the fact that he hadn't reached a slam semi since doing so for the first time at Wimbledon in 2007.

But more so, because he has finally got some results in best of 5. Mental (certainly) and perhaps physical (probably) weakenesses have plagued his slam career, leading to a number of 5 set losses against Murray (twice, from 2-0 up) and others in 5 set matches, including I believe Youzhny, Gonzales, Wawrinka, Ginepri, Hewitt. But here we have 2 victories, one from 2-1 and needing to save match point to win a 4th set TB 11-9 and then the 5th (vs Raonic) and another here against a tough grinder and high ranked player, winning the 5th set to avoid throwing a 2-0 lead.

For all the talk of his poor R4 record, his QF record is less of an issue, that's 2-0, he has never lost in a slam QF in his career. He will now look to improve on his 0-10 record against Rafa (in the early years of the rivalry, he would at least win a set, but he's lost the last 14.

All credit to Richard, that's a much-deserved result against a guy who never goes down without a fight.

As for "improving" on his 0-10 h2h v Nadal : am I right in thinking that Robredo came into his match yesterday with the exact same deficit v Fed ..... ??  This time we will NOT see a similar reversal of fortunes, and lightning will not be striking again. No disrespect to Gasquet, he's a cultured player, but simply can't imagine any problems whatever for Rafa.

2 more rounds.... just imagine.









That's some good stuff HB...

The problem is Rafa is not 32 unlike Fed and is in form of his life at hard courts, I would compliment if King Richard can take a set of Rafa which he has done several times to fold off, I was pleasantly surprised he won after Ferrer the lion heart forced his way back from 2 set deficit.

Only Wimbledon had 2 upsets, I don't think USO will reflect anything closer to Wimby on multiple upsets.

There should be an "I only backed Gasquet to win because I like making low percentage statements which make look like a guru on the off-chance Im right" option...

kingraf wrote:There should be an "I only backed Gasquet to win because I like making low percentage statements which make look like a guru on the off-chance Im right" option...

 

At least Gasquet has 3 days between quarters and semis.

Gasquet has zero chance against Nadal on this form. Nadal looks brutal frankly. I think Roger lost because of the terror of what Nadal, the unbeaten hardcourt beast would do to him at this stage. Only an on song Djokovic could stand a chance against Nadal at this stage. I hate to say it Murray fans can not see Andy stopping super Rafy on this form. He has become a masterful all around player with all the shots.

I can't tell you how much I want Novak or Andy to arrive in the final in red hot form and breathe some life into this corpse of a tournament.

socal1976 wrote:Gasquet has zero chance against Nadal on this form. Nadal looks brutal frankly. I think Roger lost because of the terror of what Nadal, the unbeaten hardcourt beast would do to him at this stage.

Hehe. Roger is very clever - he planned this well in advance, throwing in losses to Brands, Stakovsky et al, and dropping to No. 7, so that on the off chance he might come up against Rafa in the USO, he could lose before that round and no-one except the really insightful tennis fans would realise he lost in terror, and not because he's simply been playing very poorly for months

BTW, I voted for 1, 2, 3 and 6

Difficult for Gasquet when Nadal is superior mentally and physically and even if you remove that is still a better player.