Richard Gasquet looks to continue his fine record against Olivier Rochus in the second round of Metz.
Gasquet will have spent the past few days trying to put his weekend’s Davis Cup drubbing at the hands of Rafael Nadal, behind him. With no Nadal to haunt him at the Moselle Open, Gasquet could be looking at a final this week which would really help his chances of qualifying for the ATP World Finals. Currently lying 15th in the race, Gasquet has a slim shot at qualifying for the first time since 2007 but he’ll need a good run at one of the remaining two Masters Series events.
He has a good record at Metz, reaching the final back in 2004 and he’ll be confident of success against Rochus having won seven of their nine matches. Rochus beat him 7-6, 1-6, 6-4 in Miami last year but Gasquet took his revenge swiftly, beating the Belgian four times in the clay-court circuit, including a 6-0, 6-1 annihilation in Belgrade.
Rochus eased to a 6-1, 6-3 win over Stephane Robert on Tuesday and he should have much more of a chance indoors than on clay.
However after a slow start, look for Gasquet to progress in three.
