Tennis: Simon, Gasquet upset at Shanghai Masters

Shanghai, Oct 9 (IANS) Ninth seed Richard Gasquet and 13th seed Gilles Simon were both shocked at the first round of the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament here Tuesday.

Gasquet was beaten 6-3, 6-4 by Canada’s Vasek Pospisil. After the defeat, the Frenchman’s chance of qualifying for the ATP World Tour Finals was dimming, Xinhua reported.

Gasquet is currently ninth in the ATP Race To London and bidding to claim one of the four remaining berths at the season finale in London.

Elsewhere, Benoit Paire won an all-French clash against Simon 6-4, 6-3.

World No. 27 Paire converted three of his four break points and hit 12 aces to improve to a 3-1 ATP head-to-head record over Simon.

Tommy Robredo beat fellow Spaniard Albert Montanes 6-4, 6-1 in 56 minutes to claim the opening round victory. He goes on to face Fabio Fognini, who battled past Italian countryman Paolo Lorenzi 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-4 in two hours and 33 minutes.

In a battle between two of the ATP World Tour’s rising stars, Kei Nishikori defeated Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria 6-3, 6-4 in 82 minutes.

The Japanese No. 1 claimed his 32nd win of the season as he converted three of his seven break points.

Nicolas Almagro, the No. 15 seed from Spain, fired 16 aces and dropped just nine points on serve as he defeated Japanese qualifier Go Soeda 7-6(5), 6-2 in 74 minutes.

Chinese players Gong Maoxin and Zhang Ze both crashed out of the opening round after losing to German Philipp Kohlschreiber and Spaniard Fernando Verdasco respectively.

Results:

Fernando Verdasco, Spain, bt Zhang Ze, China, 7-5, 6-2

12-Kei Nishikori, Japan, bt Grigor Dimitrov, Bulgaria, 6-3, 6-4

Benoit Paire, France, bt 13-Gilles Simon, France, 6-4, 6-3

Vasek Pospisil, Canada, bt 9-Richard Gasquet, France, 6-3, 6-4

16-Tommy Robredo, Spain, bt Albert Montanes, Spain, 6-4, 6-1

Fabio Fognini, Italy, bt Paolo Lorenzi, Italy, 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-4

Andreas Seppi, Italy, bt Lleyton Hewitt, Australia, 6-4, 6-2

Philipp Kohlschreiber, Germany, bt Gong Maoxin, China, 7-5, 6-2

Feliciano Lopez, Spain, bt Jarkko Nieminen, Finland, 7-6(2), 4-6, 6-3