Richard Gasquet defeated Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-1 6-4 6-3 to reach round two of the French Open in Paris this afternoon.
Playing in front of a home crowd, 26-year-old Gasquet started the brighter of the two players and made the most of his domination by claiming two breaks of serve to take the opening set.
Stakhovsky responded positively during the second set, but he was still broken on one occasion as Gasquet went 2-0 in front.
He broke early on again in the third set but when he was serving for the match, Stakhovsky broke back to reduce the arrears to 5-3 in the Frenchman's favour. However, in the very next game, Stakhovsky surrendered his serve to gift Gasquet the match.
He will now face either Michal Przysiezny or Rhyne Williams in the next round.
Liam Apicella
