Djokovic, Gasquet advance

Richard Gasquet recovered from a mid-match lull to book his place in the quarter-finals of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Wednesday afternoon.

The world number 28 appeared to be cruising through to the last eight, having broken Ukrainian qualifier Sergei Bubka twice in succession to claim five consecutive games and wrap up the first set 6-2.

However, the onset of the second wasn’t quite so straightforward with Bubka breaking once early on to lead 5-2 at one stage, before Gasquet brilliantly rallied back – reeling off five games in a row once more to prevail 6-2, 7-5.

Two-time defending champion Novak Djokovic was pushed to the limit by Spain’s Feliciano Lopez as their second-round match went down to the wire late on Wednesday evening.

The Serbian ace, 23, looked in trouble when an in-form Lopez levelled things up at one set all (6-3, 2-6), with the momentum seemingly swinging away from the second seed at the Dubai Tennis Stadium.

Early breaks were then exchanged at the start of the third – and final – set to see both players tied at 3-3, where Djokovic broke again – and consolidated it – to edge closer to a quarter-final against Florian Mayer, of Germany.

Lopez held thereafter for 5-4, but ‘Nole’ duly served it out to round off a nervy night’s work and secure a place in the last eight.

“He played well at the start of the second set and I was under more pressure,” the former world number seven explained. “He produced a lot of big shots and maybe I played too slow.

“I played a bad game at 1-0 to him in the second set. I then tried to focus and stay in the match and he perhaps played a bad game at 5-3.

“I knew it could be tense because he had to serve it out to win the set and it wasn’t going to be easy for him.

“He made two or three bad choices and that’s why I came back at 5-4. I had more experience than him at the end of the second set.

“It was still pretty difficult. You never know what could happen in the third set, so it was good to finish the match right then and there.”

Gasquet’s gallant triumph has set up an all-French clash with Gilles Simon, whom he has beaten on four occasions without tasting a single defeat as yet on the ATP Tour.

Simon’s solitary success against his higher-ranked compatriot came at the Sunrise tournament on the Challenger circuit last year, but – with only five places separating them in the global standings – Gasquet isn’t exactly expecting an easy encounter.

“It’s good to play a quarter-final against Gilles,” he commented. “He’s a good guy and a very good player, so it will be really difficult for me to win against him. But, I’ll try to do my best.

“Either of us can win the match on Thursday; he can beat me and I can win against him. It’s a tough and very difficult match for both of us.

“He was sixth and I was seventh in the world at certain stages of our careers and we’re both now trying to come back.”

Meanwhile, Gasquet hopes changes to his coaching set-up aid his quest to return to those previous peaks in performance.

“I’m with Sebastien Grosjean in Indian Wells and the coach of (Ivan) Ljubicic, Ricardo Piatti,” he added. “I stopped with (Eric) Deblicker, so it’s another coach now.

“He (Piatti) has a lot of experience and done great jobs with some players. I want to work a lot and play well, so it’s good to have a very good coach.

“He will be my full-time coach and I’ll have some weeks with Sebastien (Grosjean) as well. He played incredibly well and is a good friend of mine, so I’m happy to be with him too.

alex@khaleejtimes.com