ATP roundup: Gasquet saves match point in Metz enroute to win

Frenchman Richard Gasquet overcame a match point and triumphed over Brazil's Thiago Monteiro with a score of 4-6, 6-4, 7-6, marking the beginning of his final participation at the Moselle Open on Monday in Metz, France.

At the age of 38, Gasquet has declared his intention to retire following the French Open next summer. Notably, Metz was the venue for his inaugural ATP Tour finals appearance back in 2004, which has since led to a total of 33 finals.

The former World No. 7 recorded 14 aces and successfully won 49 out of 55 first-serve points (an impressive 89.1 percent) against Monteiro. He saved a match point to level the third-set tiebreaker at 6-6 and subsequently secured the next two points to clinch the victory.

In another match, French lucky loser Pierre-Hugues Herbert defeated sixth-seeded Pedro Martinez from Spain with a score of 6-3, 3-6, 7-6, taking two hours and 32 minutes to complete the match. Herbert achieved a notable advantage with 12 aces compared to his opponent.

Seventh-seeded Jan-Lennard Struff from Germany advanced past Kazakhstan's Alexander Shevchenko with a scoreline of 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. Other players who progressed to the next round included Great Britain's Cameron Norrie, French qualifier Quentin Halys, and Italian Lorenzo Sonego.

In the Serbian capital, seventh-seeded Tomas Martin Etcheverry from Argentina successfully defended against all four break points he encountered, defeating Russia's Pavel Kotov with a score of 6-3, 6-4 in the first round.

Etcheverry's upcoming match will be against Slovakian qualifier Lukas Klein, who won against Australia's James Duckworth with a score of 6-4, 6-2.

German player Daniel Altmaier achieved an upset against Italian eighth seed Luciano Darderi, winning 7-6, 6-3, while Dusan Lajovic delighted the home crowd by eliminating ninth seed Mariano Navone from Argentina with a score of 6-0, 7-6.

Other notable winners included Canadian qualifier Denis Shapovalov, Croatia's Marin Cilic, Australian Christopher O'Connell, and American Aleksandar Kovacevic.

SportsLigue