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Sinner beats retiring Gasquet to reach French Open third round / Photo: ALAIN JOCARD - AFP
Sinner beats retiring Gasquet to reach French Open third round
World number one Jannik Sinner eased into the third round at Roland Garros on Thursday with a 6-3, 6-0, 6-4 over Richard Gasquet in the final match of the Frenchman's career.
Reigning US and Australian Open champion Sinner is on a 16-match winning run at Grand Slams and is attempting to become the first Italian man to win the French Open since 1976.
He will face 34th-ranked Czech Jiri Lehecka for a place in the last 16. Lehecka knocked out Spanish 26th seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in four sets.
Sinner broke for a 3-1 lead and then fought off three break points to serve out for a one-set lead against Gasquet, playing in his 22nd and final French Open.
The 23-year-old top seed ran away with the second set against an opponent who turns 39 next month and made his Roland Garros debut in 2002, when Sinner was just months old.
Gasquet's 610 match wins are the most by a Frenchman in the Open era and huge cheers greeted him on Court Philippe Chatrier as he held serve to start the third set to end a seven-game skid.
He put up more resistance as he fought valiantly to prolong his final tournament appearance but Sinner eventually broke for a 5-4 advantage before sealing victory.
M.Johnson--SMC
