Gasquet begins final Monte-Carlo campaign with first round win
The French veteran will face the winner of the match between Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime, the No 16 seed, and German qualifier Daniel Altmaier in the next round
Richard Gasquet, Monte-Carlo 2023
(Image Credit: Chryslène Caillaud / Psnewz)
French wildcard Richard Gasquet moved into the second round of the Monte-Carlo Masters by edging out Italian Matteo Arnaldi 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 at Monte-Carlo Country Club on Sunday.
This is the French veteran’s final appearance at the tournament as he plans to retire at the end of this year’s French Open. It comes 23 years after he made his debut at this tournament in 2002 when he came in as a 15-year-old wildcard to become the youngest match winner since the start of the ATP Tour in 1990.
“I know how lucky I am to play on this court,” 38-year-old Gasquet said after his win as quoted by the ATP Tour. “Maybe it was my last time. In the third set, that’s what I told [myself] in my head: ‘Fight, fight, it may be the last set here, so you have to play well. You have to be good on the court, you have to fight’. And I did it. I did some great shots and of course I’m really happy to win here. I want to thank the organisation for the wild card first and of course to win, it’s crazy for me.”
Gasquet, ranked No 148, will play the winner of the match between Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime, the No 16 seed, and German qualifier Daniel Altmaier next.
Monte-Carlo Masters 1000, other first-round matches (Monte-Carlo Country Club, clay, EUR 6,128,940):
- Valentin Vacherot (WC) beat Jan-Lennard Struff: 6-2, 6-1
- Tallon Griekspoor vs. Arthur Fils
- Dusan Lajovic vs. Flavio Cobolli
- Roberto Bautista Agut vs. Brandon Nakashima
- Alexei Popyrin vs. Ugo Humbert
- Frances Tiafoe vs. Miomir Kecmanovic
- Tomas Martin Etcheverry vs. Corentin Moutet
- Tomas Machac vs. Sebastian Baez
- Nicolas Jarry vs. Grigor Dimitrov
- Lorenzo Sonego vs. Pedro Martinez Portero
- Holger Rune vs. Nuno Borges
- Fabio Fognini vs. Francisco Cerundolo
- Alejandro Davidovich Fokina vs. Ben Shelton
- Alexandre Muller vs. Camilo Ugo Carabelli
- Daniil Medvedev vs. Karen Khachanov
- Mariano Navone vs. Matteo Berrettini
- Felix Auger-Aliassime vs. Daniel Altmaier
- Gael Monfils vs. Fabian Marozsan
- Yunchaokete Bu vs. Lorenzo Musetti
- Marcos Giron vs. Denis Shapovalov
- Stan Wawrinka vs. Alejandro Tabilo
- Jiri Lehecka vs. Sebastian Korda
- Jordan Thompson vs. Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard
