ATP ANALYSIS: Richard Gasquet edges Nick Kyrgios in sprint race in Tokyo
The second round clash between Richard Gasquet and Nick Kyrgios at the ATP 500 event in Tokyo will be remembered as one of the fastest matches in 2018, with players needing just an hour and 16 minutes to wrap up a 7-6 7-6 encounter! It was one of the quickest two-tie break matches on the Tour in the last 10 years (you can't finish the match with 26 games much earlier than this if you are not Dustin Brown) and we saw some amazing winners on both sides on the quick indoor surface that allowed them to play in the full throttle all the time.
In fact, Kyrgios was the one who inflicted this pace, firing bullets from his serve and groundstrokes (when they were in, of course) and making no rests between serves to race through both sets and finish the clash in just 76 minutes. As we could have expected, Gasquet was the one who tamed his shots in a more efficient way and he had the advantage in the crucial moments to wrap up the win in straight sets and reach quarters. A slightly more reduced tempo would have been the better option for the Frenchman but he adapted his game to these conditions nicely, hitting the same number of winners from the court as Nick and outplaying him completely in the unforced errors department to emerge as a winner for the sixth time in eight meetings with the Aussie.
As we all know, Kyrgios had a very poor season plagued with injuries and bad temper on the court, acting like he would have rather been at any other place than the tennis court in many of his 2018 encounters and also earning fines a couple of times. He did nothing bad in this match, though, except he went for all-or-nothing shots in most of the points, playing too risky on the return and attacking from unreal positions on the court in order to keep the points as short as possible. As we already said, once the ball was in there was nothing Richard could do and many of these 19 direct points the Aussie won from the court were the product of exceptional shot-making, confirming once again he is the only player on the Tour capable of playing on that level during the entire match and still be competitive.
On the other hand, it was one of the finest serving displays from Gasquet ever, dropping 10 points on serve and never facing a break point to keep the pressure on Nick all the time. The Frenchman had a chance to finish the match earlier, creating break points in both sets (five in total) but missing the opportunity to break his opponent and seal the deal earlier. Nick was in a good position to win the opening set tie break but he played another all-or-nothing return at 4-2, netting the ball and losing the momentum to drop five straight points and the set.
Gasquet was simply too good in set number two, winning 28 out of 29 points on serve and dominating in the tie break to secure the win and advance into the last eight. Besides the fact Kyrgios made no pauses between the points, they were able to finish the match in just 76 minutes thanks to the fast and fluent scoreline, with just six deuces in Nick's games and short tie breaks. In addition, there was nothing to been seen in Gasquet's games in set number two, rattling off 21 points in a row behind his initial shot and completing the job in just two or three minutes with short rallies and numerous service winners.
The initial shot is crucial in the super fast matches like this one and they hit 60 service winners (34-26 in Nick's favor), 40% of the total amount of points! In addition, nothing could separate the rivals in the shortest rallies up to four strokes, with each player winning 53 points and concluding 70% of all the exchanges in this segment. Only seven rallies reached the ninth stroke and the match was decided in the mid-range exchanges with five to eight shots where Richard had a clear 27-10 advantage that helped him to forge his win.
They had a similar number of winners from the court (19-18 for Nick) but the Aussie plagued his chances with 26 unforced errors against only three from Gasquet, missing equally from both the forehand and backhand wing and looking for every opportunity to complete the point instead of staying in the rally for a few more shots. They had a similar number of forced errors and that segment couldn't make the difference, while Nick hit four double faults, including the costly one in the opening set tie break. Overall, it was a fun and entertaining match that produced many outstanding shots from both players, reminiscing good old times when the indoor tennis was all about good serves and immediate attacks that were reducing the rallies and keeping the points as short as possible.
Point by point result and the number of shots in the rallies:
I set:
1. Kyrgios (1-0) : 0-15(6) 15-15(10) 30-15(1) 40-15(13) Game(1) 2. Gasquet (1-1) : 15-0(4) 15-15(5) 30-15(2) 40-15(3) Game(4) 3. Kyrgios (2-1) : 0-15(1) 0-30(6) 15-30(3) 30-30(2) 40-30(1) Game(1) 4. Gasquet (2-2) : 15-0(12) 15-15(4) 30-15(2) 30-30(2) 40-30(2) Game(4) 5. Kyrgios (3-2) : 15-0(1) 30-0(6) 40-0(1) Game(4) 6. Gasquet (3-3) : 15-0(4) 30-0(2) 40-0(7) Game(3) 7. Kyrgios (4-3) : 15-0(2) 30-0(2) 30-15(5) 30-30(3) 30-40(2) Deuce(1) Adv. Gasquet(1) Deuce(3) Adv. Kyrgios(4) Deuce(12) Adv. Kyrgios(9) Game(5) 8. Gasquet (4-4) : 15-0(2) 30-0(6) 40-0(6) 40-15(2) 40-30(3) Game(4) 9. Kyrgios (5-4) : 15-0(2) 15-15(7) 30-15(1) 30-30(5) 40-30(2) Deuce(5) Adv. Kyrgios(8) Game(1) 10. Gasquet (5-5) : 0-15(2) 15-15(6) 30-15(2) 40-15(6) 40-30(3) Game(1) 11. Kyrgios (6-5) : 15-0(1) 30-0(1) 30-15(3) 40-15(1) Game(1) 12. Gasquet (6-6) : 15-0(8) 30-0(2) 40-0(1) Game(1) TB: 1-0(2) 2-0(4) 2-1(2) 2-2(3) 3-2(1) 4-2(4) 4-3(2) 4-4(6) 4-5(1) 4-6(1) 4-7(1)
II set:
1. Gasquet (1-0) : 15-0(2) 30-0(1) 40-0(3) Game(6) 2. Kyrgios (1-1) : 15-0(1) 30-0(2) 40-0(1) Game(2) 3. Gasquet (2-1) : 15-0(4) 30-0(2) 40-0(1) Game(7) 4. Kyrgios (2-2) : 0-15(5) 15-15(8) 15-30(5) 30-30(2) 40-30(2) Game(4) 5. Gasquet (3-2) : 15-0(4) 30-0(3) 40-0(5) Game(5) 6. Kyrgios (3-3) : 0-15(7) 15-15(13) 15-30(1) 15-40(3) 30-40(3) Deuce(4) Adv. Gasquet(5) Deuce(4) Adv. Kyrgios(1) Game(1) 7. Gasquet (4-3) : 15-0(1) 30-0(3) 40-0(2) Game(5) 8. Kyrgios (4-4) : 0-15(9) 15-15(4) 30-15(5) 40-15(5) 40-30(5) Game(1) 9. Gasquet (5-4) : 15-0(4) 30-0(1) 40-0(1) Game(7) 10. Kyrgios (5-5) : 15-0(1) 30-0(1) 40-0(3) 40-15(4) Game(3) 11. Gasquet (6-5) : 15-0(3) 15-15(5) 30-15(4) 40-15(1) Game(1) 12. Kyrgios (6-6) : 15-0(1) 30-0(5) 40-0(5) Game(1) TB: 1-0(4) 2-0(5) 2-1(1) 3-1(6) 4-1(2) 5-1(6) 6-1(3) 7-1(1)
Points won by the rallies length:
Gasquet Kyrgios 53 1-4 (106) 53 27 5-8 (37) 10 3 9-12 (5) 2 / 13-20 (2) 2
Winners, forced and unforced errors by each shot:
Gasquet Kyrgios 26 Service winners 34 18 Winners: 19 8 Forehand 10 8 Backhand 5 2 Volley 4 Smash 3 Unforced errors: 26 3 Forehand 13 Backhand 10 Volley 3 Smash 11 Forced errors: 9 5 Forehand 5 6 Backhand 4 Volley Smash Double faults 4
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2EHkA4m
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