Seppi Delights as Gasquet Dusts Murray in Rome

By Erik Gudris

Photo Credit: Gabriel Bouys/AFP

(May 17th,2012) After the Pope, Italy's Andreas Seppi may be the most popular man in Rome tonight.

That's because Seppi gave the over 3,000 plus fans on the Pietrangeli court and anyone else who could watch quite the entertaining comeback for yet a second night in a row as he faced off against Stanislas Wawrinka in the third round. Seppi dropped the first set in a tiebreak but leveled things by winning the second set in another tiebreak.

But the final set appeared to be all for the Swiss No. 2 as he went up 5-2 and then eventually held two match points on his serve at 5-3. But clever play from the Italian fueled by the urging of the always vocal Italian crowd spurred Seppi on to rally to force a final set tiebreak.

Seppi went up 3-0 but nervous shot selection from the Italian saw Wawrinka storm ahead to take the next six points. But Wawrinka's backhand, usually his best shot, let him down as he missed two crucial one en route to losing three more match points. At 6-all, an errant hit from Wawrinka gave Seppi his first match point and a final netted forehand from Wawrinka sent the crowd into happy convulsions as Seppi won 6-7, 7-6, 7-6 to reach the quarterfinals. It marked the first match ever played in the history of the Rome event that needed three tiebreak sets.

Three set matches were the order of the day as top seed Novak Djokovic overcame a slow start and issues with the ongoing windy conditions against Juan Monaco earlier in the morning. After dropping the first set and then going down an early break, Djokovic won 20 out of 24 points to win the second set and then eventually cruise in the final one to earn a 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 win.

Richard Gasquet and Andy Murray battled each other and the setting sun in their match that saw Murray take the opening set in a tiebreak but then found himself outplayed by a more aggressive Gasquet in the last two sets. Murray, who complained about the late afternoon shadows on court also was bothered by a sore back. In the end, it was Gasquet who proved too tough as the Frenchman sealed a 6-7, 6-2, 6-3 win in the nearly three hour match.

"It was a big match and I was a little disappointed for losing the first set," said Gasquet later. "One hour, 20 minutes is tiring for me and very tough, but then I started to play well and I broke him in the first game of the second set and I started to feel comfortable with my serve."

Gasquet will next meet David Ferrer who took out another Frenchman Gilles Simon 6-0, 7-6.

No. 3 seed Roger Federer was forced to battle late into the Rome night as Spanish veteran Juan Carlos Ferrero took the second set off of Federer. Federer earned an early break in the third set and cruised to a 6-2, 5-7, 6-1 victory. Federer will next meet Seppi in the quarterfinals.

Rafael Nadal had no trouble against fellow Spaniard Marcel Granollers as Nadal won 6-1, 6-1. Nadal will next face No. 7 Tomas Berdych who dismissed No. 12 seed Nicolas Almagro 7-6, 6-3.