Murray Fights Past Gasquet; Monfils, Gonzalez Advance

© Getty ImagesAndy Murray has a 10-5 record in matches that have gone to a fifth set.

There were audible gasps after in-form Frenchman Richard Gasquet was selected to face World No. 4 Andy Murray at last week’s Roland Garros draw ceremony, and the first-round match lived up to its blockbuster billing as Britain’s top title hope recovered from two sets and a break down to prevail 4-6, 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-2, 6-1.

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Former World No. 7 Gasquet had entered his home country Slam in dangerous form, following title wins at the Bordeaux Challenger and the Open de Nice Cote d'Azur the past two weeks, and seemed poised to do some damage in his first Roland Garros appearance since 2007.

After securing the first two sets against Murray, Gasquet broke for a 3-2 lead in the third set only to drop serve for the first time in the next game. It proved the opening that the Scot needed – he went on to break the beleaguered Frenchman six more times as he completed the comeback in just over four hours.

"[I was] really, really tired, so it's hard in Grand Slam especially against Murray," said Gasquet. "He's always fighting, fighting, putting all the balls in the court. He's running well. I was close, but I didn't... It was really, really hard for me to finish the match. He played well, and in a Grand Slam you have to be 100 percent to win, especially against Andy."

It marked the second time that Murray had rallied from two sets down to defeat Gasquet, famously doing so in their last encounter in 2008 at Wimbledon as he prevented the Frenchman from serving out the match in the third set. It marked his fourth comeback overall from a two-sets deficit and his seventh win from his past eight matches that went to a fifth set. 

Murray, a quarter-finalist last year at Roland Garros, posted his best clay-court result of the season two weeks ago in Madrid, where he reached the quarter-finals before losing to Spaniard David Ferrer. He next meets Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela, who won the US Men’s Clay Court Championship earlier this season.

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Frenchman Gael Monfils, the No. 13 seed, made his way safely into the second round as he defeated German lucky loser Dieter Kindlmann 6-3, 7-5, 6-7(5), 6-2 on Court Philippe Chatrier. The German had stepped in to replace Florian Mayer after his countryman withdrew with illness.

Kindlmann saved one match point before forcing a fourth set, but Monfils needed just 34 more minutes to secure the win as he went two for five on his break point opportunities.

World No. 15 Monfils, one of 19 French players in the men’s draw this week, carried his country’s hopes at Roland Garros the past two years – reaching the semi-finals in 2008 and quarter-finals in ’09. Both of his losses came again Roger Federer.

Twelfth-seeded Chilean Fernando Gonzalez began his campaign to improve upon last year’s semi-final result (l. to Soderling), as he posted a 6-2, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over Brazilian Thiago Alves. Croatian No. 14 seed Ivan Ljubicic, a semi-finalist in 2006 at Roland Garros, also advanced by defeating Yen-Hsun Lu 7-6(5), 7-5, 6-3.

After seeing the exits of the Spanish seeds Tommy Robredo and Feliciano Lopez in first-round action Monday, No. 19 Nicolas Almagro refused to suffer the same fate as he prevailed against Dutchman Robin Haase 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(3), 6-4 in three hours and 34 minutes.

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