Gasquet survives Kukushkin to win his 10th career title in Moscow

Richard Gasquet wins a wonderful title in Moscow… but that was close!

There was a rather large gap in the rankings between the two finalists. World no. 10 Richard Gasquet was the overwhelming favourite against world no. 102 Mikhail Kukushkin, but our friend from Kazakhstan is definitely able to pull some upsets.

Richard had to recover from a set down and he had to face a huge hurdle in the decider as he lost his serve in the 7^th game to be 3-4 down. At that point Mikhail imploded and Richard was able to win 3 consecutive games (2 breaks) to grab his 3^rd title of the season after Montpellier and Doha.. Eventually Gasquet  scored only 2 points more than his opponent.  (104-102). Match Stats.

From Richard

The Frenchman congratulated his opponent for his run in this tournament (he came straight from the qualifications) “He won a lot matches recently and won Challengers. He won seven matches here. He won against big players. For sure, I knew it would be tough because his shots are flat and very strong and he doesn’t miss much and serves well. I knew it would be a big fight for me if I wanted to win. It is a big win for me to win in three sets.”

With this win Richard will move in the 9^th position in the Race to London. That means that he would qualify as Andy Murray has already announced he won’t play. 

Race to London