Andy Murray v Richard Gasquet - live! | Simon Burnton
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First set: Murray* 4-5 Gasquet A weirdly easy service game, held to love with Murray barely offering a shot to give away the final point.
First set: Murray 4-4 Gasquet* Murray's first-serve percentage in his first three service games was a very underwhelming 60% Gasquet's average over his first four service games was 77%. But that was better from Murray slower serves, but greater accuracy.
First set: Murray* 3-4 Gasquet Having twice decided not to challenge (wrongly), Murray finally has a go (also wrongly). It looks set to be another very standard service game as Gasquet goes 40-0 up, but one brilliant return and a fluffed volley later (er, and another point), it's deuce. This allows Gasquet to produce a brilliant drop-half-volley on his way to winning the game anyway.
First set: Murray 3-3 Gasquet* Three big serves win the game; Gasquet lands three returns and wins two of those points. There have been a lot of attempted lobs already today, I'm noticing. Something to do with attempting to bewilder your opponent by forcing them to confront the presence of a sun, I'm guessing. Not something they had to deal with very often in week one.
First set: Murray* 2-3 Gasquet Gasquet has a go at attacking the net several goes, to be fair. This allows Murray to unleash one great passing shot, but then the Frenchman stays back and creams a brilliant backhand down the line. And Gary Naylor, with some inevitability, wins the competition to produce a "blowing Gasquet" pun that doesn't seem smutty and crude. "So McEnroe, who often blew a gasket at Wimbledon, is advising Murray on how to blow away a Gasquet ! at Wimbl edon," he writes. "Quite an important preposition in that sentence, I feel."
First set: Murray 2-2 Gasquet* Gasquet wins the first point after Murray's first serve was called long incorrectly, and again unappealed. A sense of gentle sparring pervades, at least until game point when Gasquet attacks a forehand for the first time. A fine shot, but then Murray serves an ace and wins the game anyway.
First set: Murray* 1-2 Gasquet Murray's having some calibration issues with his radar, the upshot being that Gasquet holds to love in a game that revealed little about anything, but did give the line judges a fairly remorseless work-out.
First set: Murray 1-1 Gasquet* McEnroe is making a big deal about the importance of not counterpunching, despite that being both players' natural game. Though you'd have thought that if a tactic is good enough to take a player to No4 in the world it would probably be good enough to take him past the No13. Anyway, Murray's problem here isn't so much counterpunching it's where he's counterpunching the ball into the net, quite often, and straight at a French bloke the rest of the time. He's not helped by an incorrect and unappealed call at 15-15, and before long he's facing his first break point. It's saved, though, and the game duly won with a lovely trademark drop shot.
First set: Murray* 0-1 Gasquet Murray wins the first point but that's where the good times end, and three unforced errors hand Gasquet the game.
1.12pm: The players are warmed up. Gasquet to serve.
1.09pm: There are genuine royals in the royal box! I'm talking about the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, or Prince William and Mrs William as they're otherwise known.
Preamble Welcome, then, to Andy Murray's latest step on his route to world domination. Today's straightforward conquest is Richard Gasquet, the French No17 seed, whom Murray has soundly thrashed every time! they'v ... hang on ... he's only gone and lost the last two.
So who is Richard Gasquet, then? He's 25, his hero is Zinedine Zidane. He tested positive for Cocaine in 2009 but successfully blamed it on a waitress he kissed in Miami. He doesn't have dandruff. And he's a decent outside bet to win Wimbledon if our Andy doesn't (though it might be worth holding off your trip to the bookies for a couple of hours).
They've met at Wimbledon once before, in 2008, when Murray fought back from two sets and a break down to win, improbably, 5-7, 3-6, 7-6, 6-2, 6-4, in what Murray calls "the best moment I've ever had on a tennis court". More drama like that, please. Only slightly less dramatic.
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