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12th Seed Richard Gasquet of France beat Brandon Nakashima of the United States 2-6 6-4 6-4 in the third round of the 2023 Winston-Salem Open on Wednesday, August 24. The match lasted for more than two hours, as the 36-yeard-old Frenchman hung on to secure victory to reach the quarterfinals.
He will now face third seed Sebastian Korda of the United States in the final eight-clash on Thursday. The American took down Marton Fucsovics in straight sets in the third round, before which he defeated Benjamin Bonzi of France in the second round, again in straight sets.
Korda is a clean hitter of the ball and a very elegant player, but Gasquet will fancy his chances of causing an upset against the youngster.
On that note, let us take a look at two things that stood out in the match between Gasquet and Nakashima:
#1 Brandon Nakashima’s poor first serve percentage cost him dearly
Nakashima had the more powerful serve of the two, and also managed to hit 12 aces in the match. His first serve was quite impactful when it was in; however, his poor first serve percentage let him down ultimately.
Nakashima had a first serve percentage of 62% in the match, while Gasquet managed a staggering 98% in that regard. Both players were broken twice in the match, but the Frenchman’s superior accuracy in his first serve saw him through. Still, it was Nakashima who made a bright start to the match by breaking Gasquet twice to win the first set.
However, the tide turned from that point onwards, as the American’s first serve ratio dropped and Gasquet was able to put pressure on his second serve.
#2 Richard Gasquet’s renowned one-handed backhand did the trick for him
Richard Gasquet’s iconic one-handed backhand started imposing itself as the match progressed and he won quite a few points with it. Nakashima kept charging down to the net quite often and the Frenchman took advantage of it with passes hit mostly with his backhand.
Nakashima also failed to return well enough in the last two sets of the match. The former World No. 7 managed to get a break each in the second and third sets to finish the match off. Incidentally, the American failed to send his return in on match point to hand his much older opponent a confidence-boosting victory.
