Gasquet Campaign Ended

Richard Gasquet’s campaign in the Claro Open ended yesterday as he suffered a defeat against Estrella Burgos of Dominican Republic in the Round of 8.

It was a straight set defeat for Gasquet which would have left him embarrassed.

Being the first seeded player, Gasquet was expected to have an easy time against an opponent who is not even in top 90 in the world rankings, but, it turned out to be other way around. It’s actually Burgos who steam rolled through the Frenchman and got the match over in quick time, 65 minutes to be precise.

Gasquet got broken a couple of times in the opening set itself and that disturbed his rhythm completely.

In the second set, the Frenchman seemed to be in control with his serve until the 10^th game where he dropped his serve again, for the third time in the match, and that was the end of the proceedings.

Burgos is not a new man around on the tour. He has been there since 2002, but, he hasn’t had too many victories against top players. The 33-year Old is yet to win an ATP title in his career. He has been in the main draw of Grand Slams only twice. So, this win against Gasquet is huge for him.

Meanwhile, Ivo Karlovic of Croatia has made it to the Round of 4 as well in Bogota. He is the second seeded player in the tournament and the reigning champion as well. He is the prime contender for the title now after Gasquet’s departure.

Karlovic and Burgos will not take on each other in the semis though. The former will be up against Radek Stepanek of Czech Republic, while, the latter’s opponent will be Bernard Tomic of Australia.

Ferrer Beaten By Mayer

David Ferrer was beaten by Leonardo Mayer of Argentina in the title round match in Hamburg yesterday. The Spaniard lost in three sets by 6-7 (3), 6-1, 7-6(4).

This is the first time that Mayer has lifted an ATP trophy. He was absolutely elated at the end of the match.

Speaking in his post match interview, he said, “This is unbelievable for me. I had never thought that I would manage to get better of David and that too on clay court where he is as potent as anyone in the world. It’s a special feeling, really hard for me to sink it in.”

Ferrer also was full of praise for his Argentinean opponent while being interviewed after the match.

The Spanish no. 2 said, “He seized the key moments and thus, he deserved to win. He showed a lot of aggression which I was lacking.”

Mayer had continuously been winning in the straight sets on his way to the final and it seemed he would keep that record intact in the final as well when he won the first set in the tie break against Ferrer, but, that wasn’t the case to be.

Ferrer came out fighting in the second set and blasted his opponent away to win it by 6-1 to push the match into the decider.

The decider also went into the tie breaker and Ferrer failed in keeping his nerve this time around too pretty much like the first set.

Mayer won the tie breaker by 7 games to 4 and sealed the contest.

Mayer is currently at the 27^th position in the world rankings, but, this title win would surely get him a few positions higher, perhaps into the top 20. The Argentinean has never been in the top 20 before.