Mardy Fish squares off with Richard Gasquet in round three of the Cincinnati Masters this afternoon.
Fish is in the form of his life and he made a stunning start yesterday, dispatching former world number three Nikolay Davydenko 6-0, 6-2 in just over an hour. He leads the US Open Series standings at the moment and if he repeats his run to the final from last year, he will be in pole position to win.
“It's much harder to play when you're supposed to win,” admitted Fish, “but there is also a reason why I'm 7 in the world now: It's because I've transformed and figured out a way to beat a lot of players. I figured out a way to be a really good player.
“I can impose my serve game like today and impose my return game on a lot guys that hopefully makes them feel uncomfortable. I think makes them feel pretty uncomfortable. It would be a tough scenario to play someone that serves and returns well. I would feel like you wouldn't have much room for error. That's the goal.”
Gasquet has done well to get past two tough opponents in Alex Dolgopolov and Kevin Anderson, both in straight sets. Anderson knocked out Andy Murray in Montreal but Gasquet just had too much, winning 7-6, 6-4.
Gasquet used to have the edge over Fish, winning their first two matches but that has all changed now. The American beat him 7-5, 6-2 at this tournament last year and 6-4, 6-3 in Miami.
It will be a big surprise if Fish does not advance to a potential quarter-final with Rafa Nadal.
