Reuters
[Source: Reuters]
Frenchman Richard Gasquet saved a match point and rallied past Brazil’s Thiago Monteiro 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (6) to kick off his final appearance at the Moselle Open in Metz, France.
Gasquet, 38, announced he will retire after the French Open next summer, and back in 2004 Metz was the site of his first of 33 ATP Tour finals appearances.
The former World No. 7 had 14 aces and won 49 of 55 first-serve points (89.1 percent) against Monteiro; he saved match point to tie the third-set tiebreaker 6-6 and won the next two points to finish the job.
French lucky loser Pierre-Hugues Herbert upset No. 6 seed Pedro Martinez of Spain 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (4) in two hours and 32 minutes.
Herbert finished with a 12-4 edge in aces.
No. 7 seed Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany charged past Kazakhstan’s Alexander Shevchenko 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. Great Britain’s Cameron Norrie, French qualifier Quentin Halys and Italian Lorenzo Sonego also advanced out of the first round.
Belgrade Open
No. 7 seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry of Argentina saved all four break points he faced and defeated Russia’s Pavel Kotov 6-3, 6-4 in first-round action in the Serbian capital.
Etcheverry’s next opponent will be Slovakian qualifier Lukas Klein, a 6-4, 6-2 winner over Australia’s James Duckworth.
German Daniel Altmaier upset Italian eighth seed Luciano Darderi 7-6 (1), 6-3, and Dusan Lajovic pleased the home crowd by knocking out ninth seed Mariano Navone of Argentina 6-0, 7-6 (3).
Other winners were Canadian qualifier Denis Shapovalov, Croatia’s Marin Cilic, Australian Christopher O’Connell and American Aleksandar Kovacevic.
