Cincinnati (USA) (AFP)
Richard Gasquet will go no further: after his good week, the visibly exhausted Frenchman failed on Saturday in a final march at the Cincinnati Masters 1000 against Belgium's David Goffin, 6-3, 6-4.
At 33, Gasquet, currently 56th in the world, was playing his first semifinal of a Masters 1000 since 2013 after convincing successes against Diego Schwartzman (24th in the world) and Roberto Bautista Agut (11th) but, this time, the Belgian obstacle was too big.
In an hour and 15 minutes, Goffin folded the match in the damp heat of the Ohio, smothering the French, without idea and without legs after having drawn from his reserves the day before to overcome Agut in three rounds (7 minutes). -6 (7/2), 3-6, 6-2). Meanwhile, the Belgian had been qualified in semis without sweating following the withdrawal of the Japanese Yoshihito Nishioka, sick.
A difference of freshness that felt for Gasquet against the five-year-old Liégeois his junior, who was content to save a break and convert one to take the first set. The Biterois gave himself a jump at the start of the second run by stealing the service of his opponent, before losing his directly after and finally let go of any ambition of victory in this meeting.
Despite this defeat, Gasquet will leap to the ATP rankings and should be 34th in the world next week, who has not won a title since being crowned on the dutch grass in 's-Hertogenbosch in June 2018.
Goffin, who has won four ATP titles, will play his first Masters 1000 final on the fast-paced US, against the winner of the other semifinal between world No.1 Novak Djokovic and Russia's Daniil Medvedev ( 9).
© 2019 AFP