Gasquet Bids Adieu To Marseille, Bows In First Round

Richard Gasquet, Open 13 Provence, Marseille
Richard Gasquet (photo: Open 13 Provence/Corinne Dubreuil)

MARSEILLE/WASHINGTON, February 11, 2025 (by Michael Dickens)

France’s Richard Gasquet waved goodbye to the Open 13 Provence Tuesday afternoon. The former World No. 7 from Beziers, who made his tournament debut as a 16-year-old in 2003 with a victory and twice was a semifinalist in Marseille, lost his final match in the Bouches du Rhône at age 38 to No. 48-ranked Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan, 6-4, 6-4, in an hour and 21 minutes on Court Central at the Palais des Sports de Marseille.

A two-time semifinalist (2020, 2023) in Marseille, Bublik fired 13 aces and hit 37 winners overall against the 128th-ranked French wild card, who countered with two aces and 11 winners. Bublik won 84 percent of his first-serve points, saved two of three break points and broke Gasquet’s serve three times in five opportunities. He outpointed his opponent 66-51.

Gasquet, a 16-time titlist who was playing in his 1,012th career tour-level match (607 wins, 405 losses), came in seeking his first Top-50 win on the ATP Tour since defeating No. 45 Alexander Shevchenko in Doha last February. In 2003, as a 139th-ranked wild card, Gasquet won his debut in Marseille by defeating Feliciano Lopez of Spain, ranked 49th, before losing to No. 68 Olivier Rochus of Belgium. Two weeks ago, Gasquet played his final match in Montpellier at the Open Occitanie, losing to No. 46 Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands in three sets. He announced he will retire after this year’s French Open.

Bublik gave props to Gasquet during his post-match interview. “He’s had a spectacular career – 20 years on tour – 1,012 matches,” he said. “If I put all of my numbers together, I don’t think I will ever get to that point. So, I guess it’s got to be a great feeling to play your last Marseille after so many years. I wish him a great retirement. He has a couple more events, but this isn’t about me now. He’s a legend of French tennis. I wish him a lot of luck.”

Next, Bublik will face defending champion and No. 2 seed Ugo Humbert of France on Wednesday evening. Gasquet will play next week in the ATP Challenger 125 Terega Open Pau Pyrenees in Pau, France.

Around the Palais de Sports de Marseille

• Lucky loser Luca Van Assche rallied from 1-4 down in the final set and escaped two match points during a decisive tiebreaker to defeat fellow Frenchman Benjamin Bonzi, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7), in two hours and 11 minutes on Court Central. The 20-year-old Van Assche, ranked 164th, showed his game is on the rebound as he gained his first tour-level win since the Next Gen ATP Finals last December – and it was his first win in Marseille after losing in the first round the past two years, including to Bonzi in 2023.

Van Assche hit 10 aces and struck 36 winners overall while making 31 unforced errors. He converted three of six break points and outpointed the 64th-ranked Bonzi 94-92.

“He’s an unbelievable player,” Van Assche said of Bonzi during his on-court interview. “I’ve played him five times and always very tough matches. This is my second victory against him, twice while serving with match points. I’m very happy with the win today.”

Next, Van Assche will play No. 7 seed Lorenzo Sonego of Italy in the second round on Wednesday.

• No. 8 seed Nuno Borges of Portugal earned his first indoor ATP Tour win since Antwerp in October 2023 with his come-from-behind 6-7 (4), 7-6 (1), 6-3 victory over 158th-ranked wild card Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland in two hours and 31 minutes on Court Central Tuesday evening. Borges, a semifinalist earlier this season in Auckland, recovered from a 1-4 deficit in the second set to earn his eighth win of the season.

The loss kept Wawrinka (0-4) from recording an ATP Tour win in a 22nd different season. The 27-year-old Borges hit 27 winners and made 47 unforced errors, while Wawrinka, 39, countered with 32 winners – 12 of them service aces – but committed 56 unforced errors.

During his on-court interview, Borges admitted it was not only tough to face – and beat – Wawrinka, but everyone else in the draw, too. “Always! Not just him but anybody in this tournament. It’s a very competitive tournament. I know from the start of this tournament I’m not going to get any easy matches. You have to work for every single point here. It’s something you learn.”

Next, the 39th-ranked Borges (8-4) will face No. 62 Zizou Bergs of Belgium, who defeated 189th-ranked French qualifier Clement Chidekh, 6-4, 6-4, in an hour and 22 minutes on Court 1 to advance. Bergs served 10 aces, broke Chidekh four times and outpointed him 63-50.

• No. 52 Zhang Zhizhen of China fought off 74th-ranked Quentin Halys of France, who fired 22 service aces in a losing cause, to win 6-3, 6-7 (2), 7-6 (3), in two hours and 19 minutes on Court Central Tuesday evening. It was Zhang’s first Top-100 win since last September at Hangzhou and ended an 0-9 streak.

Zhang finished with 10 aces, won 77 percent of his first-serve points, saved both break points he faced from Halys and outpointed him 112-100.

Next, Zhang will face World No. 20 and fourth seed Hubert Hurkacz of Poland on Thursday.

• No. 46 Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany defeated 280th-ranked French lucky loser Manuel Guinard, 7-5, 7-6 (4), in one hour and 57 minutes on Court 1 to advance to the second round against either 202nd-ranked Hugo Grenier or 306th-ranked Arthur Gea, both qualifiers from France. Against Guinard, Struff exploded for 18 aces and won 70 percent of his first-serve points. He broke his opponent’s serve four times in 12 tries and outpointed Guinard 97-86.

• No. 80 Daniel Altmaier of Germany advanced past No. 83 Luca Nardi of Italy, 6-2, 6-2, in 82 minutes on Court 1. The German No. 3 hit 10 aces and saved all four break points he faced. He converted four of 11 break-point chances and outpointed Nardi 71-49. Next, Altmaier will face No. 98 Otto Virtanen of Finland, who took out World No. 23 and fifth seed Sebastian Korda, 6-7 (3), 7-6 (4), 6-4, on Monday.

• No 1 seeds Hugo Nys of Monaco and Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France advanced to the second round of doubles with their 6-1, 7-5 victory over Robin Haase of the Netherlands and Hendrik Jebens of Germany in 69 minutes on Court Central Tuesday afternoon. The Monegasque/French duo won 86 percent of their first-serve points, saved all four break points they faced while break their opponents four of nine times. Nys and Roger-Vasselin outpointed Haase and Jebens 59-40 to advance to the quarterfinal round. Next, they will face either Jakob Schnaitter and Mark Wallner of Germany or Petr Nouza and Patrick Rikl of Czechia, who play Wednesday.

Also, No. 4 seeds Sander Arends of the Netherlands and Luke Johnson of Great Britain were upset by unseeded Polish duo Karol Drzewiecki and Piotr Matuszewski, 1-6, 7-6 (5), 17-15, in an hour and 30 minutes to advance to the quarterfinals against French pair Benjamin Bonzi and Pierre-Hugues Herbert. Unseeded Yuki Bhambri of India and Matwe Middelkoop of the Netherlands defeated David Pel of the Netherlands and Patrik Trhac of the United States, 5-7, 6-2, 10-6, to also advance to the last eight.

Tuesday’s Open 13 Provence results

Wednesday’s Open 13 Provence order of play

By the numbers

Richard Gasquet of France is the third-oldest winner of a match in Marseille at 36 years and 9 months in 2023. He’s also the youngest winner of a match in Marseille at 16 years and 8 months in 2003.

“Quotable …”

“I tried to be focused on every serve, every point. I tried to return well and put pressure on those games. It worked out really well. The fans are amazing here, it’s nice to have a lot of people watching and cheering for you.”

Otto Virtanen of Finland, during his on-court interview Monday evening after upsetting World No. 23 and fifth seed Sebastian Korda of the United States to advance to the second round in his Marseille debut.

 

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