Having 399 pro wins to his name, Richard Gasquet, currently ranked at nineteenth in the latest ATP rankings and unseeded at this year’s Queen’s Club tournament – the first as a 500-level event – faced Simone Bolelli, Italian ranked 55th in the world, searching an achievement that went way beyond the second round of the second most traditional grass tournament of the year.
And the former junior no.1 and 2007 Wimbledon semifinalist faced little to no resistance on his way to becoming only the third Frenchman – after Yannick Noah and Fabrice Santoro – to surpass 400 victories on the pro tour.
The skilled Frenchman, once regarded as “the new Federer” for his classic style of tennis that includes an one-handed backhand as its biggest feature, needed less than one hour to dispatch the streaky Italian, earning a 6-1, 6-2 win in only 56 minutes, on which he claimed over twice as many points (57) as his opponent (28).
Although the match was far from utter dominance, Gasquet was far above his competition, serving at 69% with three aces and zero double-faults – while his counterpart failed to hit a single service winner and double-faulting twice. Gasquet, a steady baseliner, dominated Bolelli’s service games, winning 15 of 26 points when returning first serves and losing only four points when facing a second service. Putting up his best return game on court from the first game, the French had five break points, converting on four opportunities – while fending off the only two he faced.
Gasquet, a 2-time grass court titlist (in 2005 and 2006 in Nottingham), now rides this milestone into the second round of the AEGON Championships. He now faces the big serves from world number 8 and third-seeded Milos Raonic in the second round, on the road to another achievement: his first ATP-500 title.
Their H2H favors the Canadian, 2-1, with their last meeting being a Milos’ three-set win at Bangkok in 2013. The pair square off on Wednesday, third match on Centre Court from 12:30 p.m.