By Erik Gudris | Saturday, October 22, 2016
Richard Gasquet came back from trailing Kyle Edmund to reach his third final of the season in Antwerp.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
France’s Richard Gasquet finds himself in his third final of 2016 after surviving a tough test at the European Open in Antwerp, Belgium.
Gasquet overcame Great Britain’s Kyle Edmund who was playing in his first ever career ATP semifinal. He will face surprise finalist Diego Schwartzman of Argentina, who defeated top-seeded David Goffin, 7-5, 2-6, 7-5.
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“He was a tough opponent and I was struggling,” Gasquet said right after the three set win. “It gives me a lot of pleasure to get through a match like that.”
Edmund entered the match having already beaten Gasquet earlier in the year at the US Open. He also came in just having beaten No. 2 seed David Ferrer earlier in the week. With his trademark big forehand, Edmund dominated the opening set with multiple winners.
The British No. 2 soon closed out the opening set 6-3 and found himself up an early break in the second set. But Gasquet finally started to find inroads in the young Brit’s game.
Edmund, still leading, suffered a letdown and allowed Gasquet to break him back for 4-all. Gasquet began moving forward to the net in hopes of ending points sooner. Serving later at 6-5, Edmund struck his first ever double fault of the match. That soon led to Gasquet break Edmund again to take the set 7-5.
The key game came in the early stages of the final set. Edmund fell behind 0-40 on his serve in the third game. Edmund battled back to deuce but soon had to face down several more break point chances held by the Frenchman.
Edmund, who often quarreled with the umpire over several close calls and the fact that Hawk-Eye wasn’t in use, couldn’t get back in the game. Gasquet finally ripped a backhand down the line winner to secure the 3-1 lead.
From there, Gasquet took control as a weary Edmund began missing more shots down the stretch. Gasquet held serve at love to hold for 5-2 advantage.
Gasquet clinched the comeback win in the final game after Edmund netted a backhand down match point. With that, Gasquet celebrated the 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 victory.