Gasquet overcomes wobble to beat Cipolla

[DexteR]

Richard Gasquet was forced to battle hard to secure his place in the second round of the ABN Amro World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam.

Gasquet is seeded five for the event and looked set to justify that position with ease when taking the first set against Flavio Cipolla, but the Italian fought back to eventually go down 6-3 1-6 6-1.

Cipolla had his chances in the opening set, but Gasquet was the more clinical and two breaks of serve took him into the lead. But for all Gasquet's talent, he can suffer from lapses in concentration and Cipolla broke on two occasions to force a deciding set.

Gasquet dug in to avoid a shock against the world No. 86. He was strong on serve in the final set, he did not offer up any break points, and converted two of the three he worked to secure victory in two hours and 23 minutes.

[*jamshed*]