TENNIS in DEPTH.

France’s Richard Gasquet produced a superb performance to send sixth seed Nikolay Davydenko crashing out of the US Open in the second round.

Gasquet, who won the junior title at Flushing Meadows in 2002, claimed his first grand slam win of the year in the first round after early exits in Australia and Paris and missing Wimbledon with a rib injury.

And the enigmatic 24-year-old carried on where he had left off against Germany’s Simon Greul, dismissing Davydenko by the same scoreline of 6-3 6-4 6-2.

Davydenko, who missed 11 weeks of the season after breaking his wrist in March, is the highest seed to fall in New York so far, joining seventh seed Tomas Berdych and ninth seed Andy Roddick in making an early exit.

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Nicolas Almagro continued to light up the post-Wimbledon clay-court swing as he won his second trophy in three weeks with a 7-5, 6-1 victory over Richard Gasquet Sunday in the final of the Allianz Suisse Open Gstaad.

As champion of the ATP World Tour 250 clay-court tennis tournament, Almagro received 250 South African Airways 2010 ATP Ranking points and €68,450, while Gasquet earned 150 points and €35,980 in prize money.

Almagro’s victory in Gstaad follows hot on the heels of his triumph in Bastad two weeks ago, when he snapped a 17-month title drought with victory over home favourite Robin Soderling in the final. The Spaniard improved to a 7-2 mark in ATP World Tour finals, each one coming on clay. It is the second time he has won two ATP World Tour titles in the same year, having also done so in 2008 at Acapulco and Costa do Sauipe during the Latin American “Golden Swing”.

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Andy Murray battled back from two sets down to beat Richard Gasquet in the first round of the French Open.

Gasquet proved every bit as tough an opening opponent as predicted but as the Frenchman tired, the Scot got stronger, sealing a 4-6 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 6-2 6-1 victory in four hours and four minutes.

Murray must now recover sufficiently to take on old foe Juan Igancio Chela of Argentina in the second round, but the manner of his win on Court Suzanne Lenglen should aid the recovery process.

Gasquet had arrived in Paris on the back of a 10-match unbeaten run on clay and he picked up where he had left off when beating world number nine Fernando Verdasco in Nice on Saturday. His request to the Tournament Director for an additional day of rest was declined, and it probably cost him the match.

Three break points went begging as early as game four, one wasted with a poor drop shot, but when Gasquet fended off a break point himself with an ace in game seven and followed up with a gorgeous backhand down the line it was clear he was the man in charge.

Murray was outplayed in the first 2 sets and should take very little satisfaction from his performance today. He cut a frustrated figure for much of the opening set and a poor volley and a double-fault saw him facing set point in game 10 – at which point he chose to serve-volley for the first time in the match, the volley ending up in the net.

Gasquet had the first opportunity in the second set but played a bizarre forehand slice that floated long at break point in game four, while Murray could only watch as yet another blistering backhand flew past him when the Scot had his chance in the following game.

Murray’s frustration with himself deepened considerably when he double-faulted to hand Gasquet break point in game five but he got out of trouble with a succession of rasping forehands.

Gasquet retained the initiative, however, and came desperately close to a two-set lead when a running forehand pass went just long on set point at 6-5, but after twice letting two-point leads slip in the ensuing tie-break he wrapped it up with a cross-court forehand and a sharp half-volley.

Gasquet required treatment at both the start and end of a fourth set that would not be such a battle – Murray rattling through it in half an hour with two breaks as the Gasquet backhands began to miss their target, while the physically stronger Briton started to dictate matters from inside the baseline.

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Richard Gasquet’s  plea to have his French Open first-round match with Andy Murray postponed fell on deaf ears.

Gasquet asked tournament referee Stefan Fransen to stage the clash on Tuesday after he suffered a leg injury winning his first ATP title in more than three years on Saturday.

But Fransen refused to make an exception for the Frenchman, who beat Fernando Verdasco in the Nice Open final.

Gasquet is understood to be upset with the decision, claiming before a second appeal was turned down that it would be unfair to force him to play within a day of his arrival in Paris from France’s south coast.

However, moving his and Murray’s match to Tuesday would almost certainly have meant the victor playing two days in succession at some point during the tournament.

It is unclear how seriously Gasquet’s left leg is troubling him, although he twice required on-court treatment during his 6-3 5-7 7-6 (7/5) win.

That result was a 10th victory in a row for the former world number seven, who won a Challenger event in Bordeaux last week.

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Richard Gasquet signalled a warning to Andy Murray ahead of their meeting in the first round of the French Open on Monday by winning the Nice Open.

France’s Gasquet, 23, recorded his 10th successive win as he took the title with a hard-fought 6-3 5-7 7-6 (7-5) victory over Spain’s Fernando Verdasco.

The Frenchman, the world 68, had been trailing 3-0 in the deciding set but fought back to win the tie-break.

Gasquet is in fine form, having won a Challenger title in Bordeaux last week.

“I’d like to thank the fans who really helped me in the third set,” said the former French number one said after sealing his eighth career title in Nice.

Gasquet is sure to pose British number one Murray, who has been seeded fourth, a stiff test when the two men meet at Roland Garros.

The 23-year-old Scot won their last encounter, a dramatic five-set thriller at Wimbledon in 2008, having lost their two previous meetings.

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Fernando Verdasco had to battle to claim his place in the semi-finals of the Open De Nice Cote D’Azur on Thursday after being stretched to a final set by Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky.

The big-serving Stakhovsky had the Spaniard in trouble as he aimed to move closer to his 13th career ATP final, holding his nerve in a tight second set tie-break before Verdasco struck back to win 6-2 6-7 (7/5) 6-4.

Verdasco’s semi-final opponent will be Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer who pulled off a surprise 5-7 6-3 6-4 victory over fifth seeded Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis.

The 23-year-old Mayer last reached a major semi-final in August last year.

Home hopes were dashed when third seed Gael Monfils blew a series of break-point opportunities and was made to pay as he slid to a disappointing 7-6 (7/2) 6-2 defeat to Italian Potito Starace.

However Starace must now face another Frenchman in Richard Gasquet, who finally ended the excellent run of Belgian veteran Olivier Rochus – second-round conqueror of top-seed Robin Soderling – 6-4 6-2.

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Thomaz Bellucci reached the second round of the Barcelona Open following a straight-sets victory over Jarkko Nieminen.

The Brazilian edged a tight encounter 6-4 6-4 at the Real Club de Tenis.

The tournament had earlier been hit by the withdrawal of defending champion Rafael Nadal, the world number three.

Back on court, Nicolas Almagro eased through against fellow Spaniard Santiago Ventura, taking only an hour to secure a 6-1 6-2 victory.

Almagro, the 15th seed, was completely dominant, firing 10 aces en route to victory.

Juan Ignacio Chela also progressed with a 6-1 6-4 win over Filip Krajinovic.

Richard Gasquet got the better of Russian Igor Andreev in a tight match lasting one hour 42 minutes.

The former Wimbledon semi-finalist edged a first-set tie break 7-5 before securing a vital break in the second to claim a 7-6 6-4 victory.

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Stanislas Wawrinka overcame a terrible second set to reach the quarter-finals of the Grand Prix Hassan II in Casablanca on Thursday.

The number one seed took the first set 6-4 against Slovakian qualifier Martin Klizan, but was broken three times in the second on his way to losing it 6-0.

But the Swiss player managed to hold his nerve to bounce back and take the deciding set 6-4.

Third seed Victor Hanescu had to come from a set down to Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen to advance. The Romanian lost the opener 6-2 but battled back to take the next two sets 6-3 6-2.

France’s Richard Gasquet is also through after a 6-1 6-1 win over Andrey Golubev, while Moroccan wild card Reda El Amrani beat Jan Hajek 6-3 2-6 6-2.

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