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Gasquet downs defending champion

Gasquet downs defending champion

Rob O'Gorman Tuesday 13 January 2009 3 Comments »

Frenchman Richard Gasquet has ousted Medibank International Sydney defending champion Dmitry Tursunov in straights on Ken Rosewall Arena this evening.

The Brisbane International semifinalist won a tight first set 7-6(4) before gaining a late break in the second and close out the match 6-4.

Tursunov’s defeat marks the only the third time that that the men’s defending champion has lost in the opening round of the tournament.

2007 champion James Blake was bundled out by Fabrice Santoro in the first round last year while in 2003 Roger Federer was also eliminated in his first match.

Gasquet will now meet compatriot and second seed Gilles Simon in the second round.

In other results, Brisbane International champion Radek Stepanek was forced to withdraw from his first round match against Frenchman Jeremy Chardy this evening due to illness.

Chardy was leading 6-4 3-0 when Stepanek opted to retire from the match.


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  • tennis addict

    yeah gasquet!

    gasquet will make a thunderous year.Mark my words.

    Allez!

  • Gary Graham

    Gasquet has all the shots – he is clearly a top 10 player at his best and can beat anyone on a given day but his temperament is his big weakness. Sadly, he is not mentally tough enough and this has cost him numerous times in the past and is likely to in the future.

  • amurti

    I have always believed that Gasquet should be up there with Federer and Nadal – I do hope he gets his mental game organized and get to where he should be – AT THE TOP. I hope now that he changed his coach, he will get more agressive and stay inside the base line – which he has been doing lately, and doing good at it also. He is still a bit shaky, but when he gets into it, he is the NO 1 player for me. absolutely love watching him play when he is in the zone.

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