Marseille (France), Feb 11 Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan summoned his best abilities to end the career of crowd favourite Richard Gasquet of France in the first round of the Marseille Open here on Tuesday afternoon. Gasquet is retiring from tennis after the French Open this year. The Kazakhstani overcame the veteran French star 6-4, 6-4 at the indoor ATP 250 to register his 100th tour-level win on hard courts.
In other matches in the event, Luca Van Assche of France defeated compatriot Benjamin Bonzi 3-6, 6-3,7-6(7) in a two-hour 11-minute clash in Round of 32. Daniel Altmaier of Germany defeated Luca Nardi of France 6-2,6-2 in a match played on Court 1.
In the feature match of the day, Bublik crucially broke Gasquet’s serve in the penultimate game of each set, and on both occasions, he served out the next game to love en route to an 82-minute first-round win.
After falling behind 0-3 early, Bublik dialled in on serve and produced an all-around aggressive display in which he finished with 37 winners, including 13 aces. The No. 48 in the ATP Rankings completed his win having converted three of five break points he earned, according to Infosys ATP Stats.
A former World No. 7, Gasquet remains the youngest match winner in event history in Marseille, where he defeated Feliciano Lopez as a 16-year-old in 2003. Now 38 years old, the Frenchman was on Tuesday bidding to mark his final appearance at the event and also hoping to become the oldest match winner in the tournament's history. However, he was unable to achieve that as Bublik played at his best once he settled into the match.
“He has a spectacular career, 20 years on Tour and 1,012 matches. I don’t think I would ever get to that point,” said Bublik of Gasquet, who is in the final few months on the tour. “I guess it has 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 and I wish him a lot of luck.”
The four-time ATP Tour champion Bublik will next take on another French star in second seed and defending champion Ugo Humbert. It will be the second ATP head-to-head meeting between the pair after Humbert triumphed in the 2024 Dubai championship match.
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