In Monte Carlo, seasoned tennis pro Richard Gasquet secured a spot in the second round of the Monte Carlo Masters on Sunday with a hard-fought victory over Matteo Arnaldi, winning 6-3, 4-6, 6-4. This year marks Gasquet’s final appearance at this prestigious tournament as he plans to retire at the season’s end. The Frenchman, now 38, started his journey here two decades ago with a stunning victory over Roger Federer in a memorable quarterfinal matchup.
Back then, Gasquet came tantalizingly close to reaching the finals, only to be edged out by Rafael Nadal in the semifinals. Despite his undeniable talent and one of the game’s most admired one-handed backhands, Gasquet’s career has been a string of what-ifs and near-misses against the titans of tennis. His head-to-head history against Federer sits at 2-19, he has yet to taste victory against Nadal in 18 attempts, and he only managed to win once in 14 encounters with Novak Djokovic.
In his match against Arnaldi, Gasquet faced 11 break points but managed to fend off the challenge. Arnaldi, ranked 39th, capitalized on three of those chances but struggled to hold his own serve, succumbing to Gasquet’s pressure five times, particularly on his second serve.
Joining Gasquet in the next round is Monaco’s own Valentin Vacherot, who took advantage of his wild card entry. Ranked 259th, Vacherot pulled off an impressive 6-2, 6-1 upset against Jan-Lennard Struff. It was only Vacherot’s ninth career win on the ATP tour, but his performance was rock solid; he faced no break points, fired five aces, and won an impressive 85% of his first-serve points.
