Montpellier, France (SportsNetwork.com) – Richard Gasquet beat countrymate
Gael Monfils in an all-French semifinal Saturday at the Open Sud de France
tennis event and will meet Poland’s Jerzy Janowicz for the title.
Gasquet earned a measure of revenge against Monfils with Saturday’s 6-4, 6-3
victory. Monfils had beaten Gasquet in last year’s Montpellier final for his
second title at this event.
Now, Gasquet will try to win this championship for a third time. He won it two
years ago in Montpellier and also in 2006 when the tournament was staged in
Lyon.
Janowicz won Saturday’s first semifinal, outlasting Portugal’s Joao Souza in a
7-6 (11-9), 3-6, 6-1 decision. The Pole, who saved six match points in his
opening match this week, has yet to win an ATP title. He fell in finals at the
Paris Masters in 2012 and in Winston-Salem last year.
Gasquet, meanwhile, will try to improve upon a 10-12 all-time mark in title
matches. In addition to last year’s loss to Monfils at this event, he also
fell to Feliciano Lopez in the Eastbourne final last June.
The last tournament title for Gasquet came in October 2013 in Moscow.
Gasquet must now try to avoid the revenge factor. He beat Janowicz in the
semifinals of this event last year and owns a record of 2-1 against the Pole.
The 2015 Montpellier champion will earn $90,000.
