Sensation Gasquet to face Safin
Sixth seed Marat Safin, the former US Open champion and one of the brightest young stars on the circuit, will play 15-year-old Richard Gasquet, the new sensation of French tennis, in the Master Series second round in Monte Carlo.
Gasquet yesterday ignored blistered racket fingers and more than two and half hours of strength-sapping tennis to become the youngest winner of a Masters Series main draw match when he beat Franco Squillari, of Argentina, 7-6, 3-6, 7-5 .
Gasquet, ranked 590 in the world, only entered the qualifying section of this prestigious event thanks to a wild card. He responded with a display that revealed just why a French tennis magazine put him on their cover when he was only nine years old.
"It makes no sense. I didn't even think I could win one match, let alone three." said Gasquet who has already won £5,266 in Monte Carlo. Coming into this tournament the teenager had won just £194 compared to Safin's tennis earnings of £4.6million.
Safin, 22, complained about blisters during the early part of his first-round clash with Spain's Tommy Robredo on centre court. With third seed Yevgeny Kafelnikov losing yesterday, it appeared another major Russian player was going out but Safin suddenly found his range to win 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Second seed Juan Carlos Ferrero eased into the second round with a 6-2, 6-2 win over fellow Spaniard Albert Portas. Slovakia's Dominic Hrbaty easily accounted for Sweden's Andreas Vinciguerra 6-4, 6-4.
Andy Roddick, the American 10th seed, is through after beating Chile's Fernando Gonzalez 7-6,7-6 while Marcelo Rios saw off Frenchman Fabrice Santoro 6-3,6-2.
Meanwhile, American Lindsay Davenport will return to Eastbourne to defend her Britannic Asset Management International Championships singles title at Devonshire Park from June 17-22. The tournament will also boast Jelena Dokic and Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario.
