Richard Gasquet beats Nick Kyrgios to set up Kevin Anderson date in Tokyo
Richard Gasquet got the better of Nick Kyrgios to book a quarter-final date with Kevin Anderson at the Japan Open.
Although there was not a single break of serve in the match, it was the eight-seeded Frenchman who came out on top of the two tie-breakers, winning 7-6 (7-4), 7-6, (7-1).
Allez, Richard! 💪🇫🇷@richardgasquet1 slides past 2016 Tokyo champion Nick Kyrgios with a 7-6(4) 7-6(1) victory. #rakutenopen pic.twitter.com/vmaNIruOja
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) October 4, 2018
Next up is second seed Anderson after the South African beat Frances Tiafoe from the United States 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 in two hours and 10 minutes.
Fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, meanwhile, secured an encounter against third-ranked Kei Nishikori after overcoming Alex De Minaur 6-3, 5-7, 6-1.
Super Stefanos! 👌🇬🇷@StefTsitsipas battles past Alex de Minaur 6-3 5-7, 6-1 to book his 8th quarter-final of 2018. #rakutenopen pic.twitter.com/kHbVHiWrAE
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) October 4, 2018
“Tennis is such a weird sport sometimes. You can win a match in the third set and it was a matter of one point today. If I would have won one more point — and I didn’t have just one opportunity to do that, I had a couple of them — I could have won that match 6-3, 6-2,” Tsitsipas said after the match.
“But it turned out to be a three-setter, 6-1 in the third, just to show how much a few points could make a huge difference.”
In the top half, Jan-Lennard Struff was the final player to move into the quarter-final as the German claimed a 7-6 (7-3), 6-7 (2-7), 6-4 victory over Jeremy Chardy from France.
